Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Mercury on the Horizon

NASA ^ | February 19, 2013 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Have you ever seen the planet Mercury? Because Mercury orbits so close to the Sun, it never wanders far from the Sun in Earth's sky. If trailing the Sun, Mercury will be visible low on the horizon for only a short while after sunset. If leading the Sun, Mercury will be visible only shortly before sunrise. So at certain times of the year an informed skygazer with a little determination can usually pick Mercury out from a site with an unobscured horizon. Above, a lot of determination has been combined with a little digital manipulation to show Mercury's successive positions during March of 2000. Each picture was taken from the same location in Spain when the Sun itself was 10 degrees below the horizon and superposed on the single most photogenic sunset. Currently, Mercury is visible in the western sky after sunset, but will disappear in the Sun's glare after a few days.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado]

[SunkenCiv]

I'm glad to get all this caught up in, basically, one sitting. Glad that FR is back up and running, too.

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[Paladin2]

Kool.

To this sky-geezer it looks like a digital chem trail. ;-)

[gorush]

You might enjoy this. The following is allegedly the first photo ever taken from space. Guess what year it was taken. (I'll wait for a few guesses before acknowledging the correct answer)

[wxgesr]

1st weather satellite was 1965 so, 1961?

Probably by a Rooskie....

[bigheadfred]

Guess what year it was taken.

5236 BC.

[gorush]

If the rules asked for the closest guess without going over, you would be in the lead.

[The Cajun]

Looks like they got their digital manipulation done just in time before those digital clouds moved in to obscure the digital Mercury :)

[gorush]

This photo was taken in space right after World War II (1946). A team of soldiers and scientists used a German-made V-2 missile equipped with a camera to capture this shot —making it the first photo in space.

[bigheadfred]

That was exactly my thought. That it was something like that, but I was going to guess 1938 or '39, found in seized Nazi documents after the War.

This is still on my search bar "wehrner von braun rocket takes photos from space".

[Hoodat]

Stardate 1946.81370

[wxgesr]

Most XCLNT!!! Thanks, didn’t even think about that.

[left that other site]

I just zends zem UP
Who cares where zay come down
“Zat’s not my department,” says Werner Von Braun

(Tim Leher)

[Conan the Librarian]

I saw Mercury twice in the last week. Once at a public star party and once from my drive way...through the branches of an oak tree.

Just wait until May. Mercury, Venus and Jupiter are going to have a little get together in the West around May 27th.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks CtL, that will probably be an APoD topic soon as well.

[TheOldLady]

Gee, I didn’t think it was that easy to get pictures of Mercury.

I live in the second-cloudiest state in the union, so it’s nice to have the APOD so I can see the heavens.

Thanks, Mr. Civilizations!

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, an evening with Venus, a lifetime with Mercury.

[GATOR NAVY]

I don’t think I ever saw Mercury, or at least not that I was aware of. When I was at sea, at that time (sunrise/sunset), I would have been looking for usable celestial objects. An object that low is really marginal for navigational purposes, although there is data for Mercury in the Nautical Almanac.

Where I an now there are so many mountains and trees around I have very few places where I can see anything at that low an altitude.