{"id":158945,"date":"2025-11-29T10:01:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/158945\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T10:01:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:01:06","slug":"the-sky-today-on-saturday-november-29-mercurys-retrograde-path-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/158945\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sky Today on Saturday, November 29: Mercury\u2019s retrograde path ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\tBack to Article List\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tPlanet Mercury reaches a stationary point in Libra, ending its motion westward across the sky and beginning to move east once more.\t\t\t<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMercury and Venus are visible above the eastern horizon shortly before sunrise today. If you tried to view the pair last week, you\u2019ll note that Mercury is much brighter and easier to spot by now. Credit: Stellarium\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

On November 28, Mercury reached its stationary point at 10 A.M. EST, signifying a shift from retrograde to prograde motion and becoming visible in the eastern pre-dawn sky at magnitude 0.4, displaying an 8\u201d-wide, 30-percent illuminated disk.
\nDuring the same pre-dawn period, Venus was observable at magnitude \u20133.9, presenting a 10\u201d-diameter disk that was 99 percent illuminated.
\nLater that day, the Moon performed two close passes: 4\u00b0 north of Saturn at 2 P.M. EST, followed by 3\u00b0 north of Neptune at 9 P.M. EST, subsequently residing in Pisces.<\/p>\n

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full\u00a0Sky This Week<\/a>\u00a0column.\u00a0<\/p>\n

November 28: Saturn stands still<\/a><\/p>\n

Mercury comes to its stationary point at 10 A.M. EST, ending its retrograde path and turning to slide eastward (prograde) against the background stars once more. The solar system\u2019s smallest planet, visible in the eastern sky before sunrise, shines at magnitude 0.4, significantly brighter than the last time we viewed it a few days ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Try for it some 40 minutes before sunrise, when Mercury is 8\u00b0 high and climbing above the eastern horizon in the constellation Libra. Bright Venus \u2014 magnitude \u20133.9 \u2014 has just cleared the horizon at this time. Give it another 10 minutes, and it reaches 2\u00b0 in altitude. You\u2019ll need a clear horizon to spot it, but it\u2019s bright, which certainly helps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got a telescope, take a few minutes to observe each of the two planets through the eyepiece before you need to pack away your equipment prior to sunrise. Mercury\u2019s 8\u201d-wide disk is some 30 percent lit; compare this with Venus 10\u201d-diameter disk, which is nearly fully illuminated at 99 percent.<\/p>\n

Later today, the Moon passes 4\u00b0 north of Saturn at 2 P.M. EST, then passes 3\u00b0 north of Neptune at 9 P.M. EST.\u00a0 By evening, our satellite will lie in Pisces, now to the upper left of naked-eye Saturn, reversing the pair\u2019s positions from yesterday.<\/p>\n

Sunrise:\u00a07:01 A.M.
Sunset:\u00a04:35 P.M.
Moonrise:\u00a01:12 P.M.
Moonset:\u00a012:33 A.M.
Moon Phase:\u00a0Waxing gibbous (70%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40\u00b0 N 90\u00b0 W. The Moon\u2019s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back to Article List Planet Mercury reaches a stationary point in Libra, ending its motion westward across the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46,2928,43844],"class_list":["post-158945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-observing","tag-sky-tonight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}