Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Venus and Mercury on the Rise

 I think I saw Venus low in the West last night, around 6:35 pm. I wasn't looking for it, just bringing the car in, but it was bright enough to catch my eye, shining between the houses across the street. I had to watch it for a while to make sure it wasn't an airplane coming to Bonaire from Curacao. Mercury should be visible to Venus' upper left, but i didn't spot it. 

 Mercury will be getting higher in the sky each night until around Dec. 23, after which it will start descending again. (I'm thinking that around Dec. 23, we might be able to spot five planets in the sky at the same time. From West to East we'd see: Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars.) 

Also, Mercury, Venus and the Moon will make a nice small triangle on the evening of Dec. 24. I'm definitely hoping for clear skies that evening. Mercury will pass quite close to Venus on the evenings of December 29 and 30. Venus will continue to be visible in the evening sky until late July. Mercury will pop up to make another appearance near Venus at that time.