LOOK UP:
The events should be viewed between 7pm and 8:30pm from a location with an unobstructed view of the western horizon, the museum suggested
Two celestial events involving Mercury would be visible to the naked eye in the evenings of Wednesday and Thursday if conditions are favorable, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said yesterday.
Mercury orbits closer to the sun than Earth, and is often difficult to observe, as its proximity to the sun usually leaves it hidden in the solar glare.
However, in mid-June the planet is visible low in the western sky after sunset and can be seen more easily with binoculars, the museum said in a statement.
Photo: Screen grab from Taipei Astronomical Museum’s Facebook page
The first event is to occur tomorrow, when Mercury reaches its greatest eastern elongation — the point at which the planet appears farthest from the sun in the evening sky.
At that time, Mercury would be separated from the sun by 24.5 degrees, making it one of the best opportunities of the year to observe the planet, the museum said.
Mercury would be about 22 degrees above the western horizon around sunset, the museum said.
On Wednesday evening, Mercury would join Venus, Jupiter and a crescent moon in the western sky. The four objects would form a vertical arrangement, with Mercury at the bottom, followed by Jupiter, the moon and Venus at the top, the museum said.
The museum recommended viewing the events between 7pm and 8:30pm from a location with an unobstructed view of the western horizon.
However, museum researcher Wu Tien-yen (吳典諺) said that unstable weather could affect visibility, adding that viewing conditions would depend on cloud cover.