dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (05/16/85)
Mercury is difficult to see -- but Friday the moon may help you see it. More on Mercury and the moon -- after this. May 16 The Moon and Mercury Before dawn, you can see at least two worlds in our solar system. Venus is the most brilliant object in the east before sunrise. Bright Jupiter shines from high in the south. There's also a slender crescent moon -- very thin and near the eastern horizon -- that you can see Friday morning if you have a clear view to the east. And there's still another member of the sun's family also in the east before dawn -- the planet Mercury -- but it's not very easy to see. Because it travels nearest the sun, Mercury hugs close to the sun's glare in our sky. Friday morning the old moon can help point your way to spotting this elusive planet. Before dawn on Friday, Mercury will be just below the crescent moon on the dome of the sky -- and both objects will be very close to the eastern horizon. By Saturday morning the moon will have moved eastward past Mercury -- and closer the glare of the sun. Mercury is very elusive as seen from the Earth. Even with space probes we haven't yet seen all of the planet close-up. More than a decade ago, Mariner Ten turned its instruments on Mercury in three passes near the planet. It sent back thousands of remarkable photographs -- but covered less than half of the planet's cratered surface. We did learn that the surface of Mercury is remarkably similar to that of the moon. It's gray, completely pitted with craters, under a black and airless sky. Script by Diana Hadley. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin