How to see Mercury, Moon and Gemini twins this week passing close to the night sky

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In the last week of June and will continue until the first week of July, we will have a great chance to notice Mercury, a deep planet of the sun.

Many people have never noticed that Mercury will quickly and backward forward and forth compared to the sun in our sky, and in orbit moves in just half the sun to Venus.

This is the fastest moving and smallest big planet (only 1.4 times wider than the moon) 4.15 times a year in the sun, but at our own moving point, it seems to go only about 3.15 times. Each year it causes about 3.5 oscillation to the eastern sky and so many times to the evening – very uneven character tours due to its eccentric orbit and various angles from which we look at it.

Usually, as it can be seen from the northern hemisphere, the mercury overlooks the underwater, and its spring hikes to the western sky are the best. Although it has not officially happened during the spring season, this year the first evening revelation that took place since 23 February. Until March 15, it was great because it was concentrated on the date of the largest elongation from the sun (March 8) for a few days, the mercury was set immediately after the end of the evening Twilight at the dark sky.

Another option

Now this fast, Rocky Little World can be viewed again in the evening sky, although on this occasion it is not the “spring” revelation, but rather as the early summer, which includes the period from June 20. Until July 11, floors above the sun, as did it in late February and early March.

This time it is different that it is now in early summer, not winter late. Thus, from the middle of the top latitudes, the duration of the Fort Twilight is longer about 30 minutes. So, unlike in early March, we can’t expect to look at Mercury against the dark sky.

However, in the evening shows, Mercury always looks the brightest of the days that lengthen it. June 20 It shone -0.2 in size, more pronounced than similarly resistant stars, the second brightest than Syria, as shown from the northern latitudes. Until July 3 It will fade to the still honorable bright -sized +0.5, which would be among the ten brightest stars in the sky. So it should not be too difficult to see the Twilight sky, in the low west-west, about 45 minutes to an hour after sunset.

And this week we will have some help to set it up for some other sky landmarks.

First Composition: June 24

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Mercury will make an almost straight line with two bright stars on Tuesday night, June 24; Gemini Gemini, Pollux and Castor. Walking from right to left, the distance between castor and pollux is 4.5 degrees. If you draw an imaginary line between these two stars and extend it to 6.5 degrees to the left, you will come to Mercury.

Alternatively, set another path if you make a compressed fist and hold it to the length of the hand, it will measure about 10 degrees. The distance from mercury to star ricina (left to right) should measure just more than one fist width or approximately 11 degrees.

Also, keep in mind that Mercury will look much brighter than Pollux and Castor. Tonight, Mercury will shine zero size, and the pollox will only appear as about a third as bright with a size of +1.1, while Castor will only be about a quarter of a bright one with +1.6. So, while you are likely to see Mercury with the naked eye, Pollux and Castor are likely to be harder to see Twilight. So be sure to have a couple of binoculars to help you see these double stars connected to Mercury.

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Second Composition: June 26

Two west, June 26, Thursday, another Wanderer, the Moon, will appear on the stage. Just just over 1.5 days after the young phase of the moon, it will appear as a very narrow, wire thin crescent, only 3 percent illuminated by the sun. Again, the binoculars will turn out to be the most useful with the help of finding not only Pollux and Castor, but also an extremely slender moon whisk.

Any wonderful scene awaits you if you can notice.

Tonight, Pollux and Castor will be directed directly to the moon, and the gap that separates this trio will be the same: from castor to pollox to 4.5 degrees, and from pollux to the moon to measure another 4.5 degrees; Heavenly triple game.

But don’t forget the mercury.

It shines about 4.3 degrees on the left and still gently above the moon. In short, the four famous sky objects-Menulis, a bright planet and two bright star-slides are a little more than a dozen Western-western sky.

Grouping of heavenly four -legged!

However, remember that in many parts of the country, June has a reputation that is a gloomy, vague and wet month. Thus, unfortunately, the visibility of objects, so low for the horizon, can interfere with this “Sky Survey”. But if your local sky is clear and transparent, try not to miss it, as gatherings like the moon, accompanied by bright stars and planets, are unusual and wonderful.

August

Mercury will quickly withdraw from twin twin days after June 26th. And it will disappear quickly after July 4, moving to the morning sky on July 31. August Get up early in the mornings to see this rude planet climbing almost just above the Sunrise point.

By August 19, about an hour before sunrise, it will reach the highest, and Venus and Jupiter’s Dynamic duo are still 15 and 22 degrees above. Pollux and Castor will also be nearby, and in the mornings the moon will join and!

Mark your calendars …

Joe Rao works as an instructor and invited lecturer in New York Hayden Planetarium; He writes about astronomy Natural History MagazineIs it Heaven and telescope and other publications.