The moon will meet up with Mercury, the solar system’s smallest planet and the closest to the sun, within the sky today.
The 28-day-old moon will pass to the north of the tiny planet, with the 2 coming to inside around 3°35′ degrees of one another. Each the moon and Mercury will likely be within the constellation of Aries through the conjunction. The 2 celestial objects will share a right ascension, the celestial equivalent of longitude, in an arrangement astronomers call a conjunction.
Skywatchers in Latest York City will have the option to see the moon and Mercury shortly after they rise at 4:54 a.m. EDT (0854 GMT) until just before they drop slightly below the horizon at around 6:14 p.m. EDT (2214 GMT), in keeping with Within the Sky. (opens in recent tab)
The conjunction will occur during sunlight hours with the sun above the horizon. Observing celestial events akin to this conjunction is feasible through the day, but comes with risks. Skywatchers taken with observing this event should take precautions to not look directly on the sun or to direct binoculars or telescopes in its general direction.
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Through the conjunction, the moon, which will likely be only 5% illuminated because it heads to the following completely dark recent moon and the beginning of a brand new 29.5-day lunar cycle on Friday (May 19). The moon can have a magnitude of around -8.8 through the conjunction, with the minus prefix indicating a vivid object over Earth. Mercury can have a magnitude of 1.6 through the celestial arrangement, making it somewhat tougher to watch.
Each bodies can have a right ascension of 02h18m20s, while the moon can have a declination of +14°09′. Mercury can have a declination of +10°33′.
Because of its proximity to Earth, the moon is far larger than Mercury within the sky over our planet, having an angular size of 31’20″2 in comparison with Mercury’s angular size of 10″3.
The difference between the dimensions of the moon and the dimensions of Mercury within the solar system is not actually that great. The moon has a diameter of two,158 miles (3,474 kilometers), while Mercury is just 3,031 miles (4,879 kilometers) wide. This implies the tiny planet is simply 1.4 times the dimensions of our moon.
Mercury is, nevertheless, around 4.6 times more massive than the moon, because of its composition of 70% metal and 30% silicate, which provides the planet a powerful density of around 5.4 grams per cubic centimeter. This makes it the solar system’s second densest planet after Earth, which has a density of 5.4 grams per cubic centimeter. The moon is lighter, with a density of just 3.34 grams per cubic centimeter.
Despite coming close together within the sky, the moon and Mercury will still be too widely separated within the sky on Wednesday to be seen in the sector of view of a telescope. The 2 will likely be visible together inside the wider field of view of binoculars, nevertheless.
Should you are hoping to catch a take a look at the moon and Mercury through the conjunction, our guides to the best telescopes and best binoculars are an awesome place to start out.
And if you should try your hand at taking your individual pictures of the night sky, try our guides on learn how to photograph the moon, in addition to the best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s Note: