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Venus has remained alone in the western sky in recent weeks. In July, Venus will be joined by Mercury
The orbits of Venus and Mercury lie within the Earth's orbit. While traveling on the "inner tracks" of the solar system, they have a much shorter year. Venus completes an orbit in 225 days while Mercury does so in just 88 days
To see Venus, just face west around 9:30 pm. As Venus turns around the sun, it seems to change shape in the same way as the moon of the Earth. If you have a telescope, you can easily see the phase of the second planet. It now looks like a gibbous moon.
Once you have found Venus, look for Mercury below and to the right. Mercury is not as bright as Venus and much lower in the sky. At 2130, it only exceeds a few degrees above the western horizon. A pair of binoculars will help you find it. In a telescope, Mercury will also present a gibbous phase.
Over the next two weeks, the Mercury's view will improve slightly as it rises in the sky. The best time to see it will arrive on July 11th when the planet is at the greatest angular distance from the sun.
Kevin D. Conod is the director of the planetarium and astronomer at the Dreyfuss Planetarium at the Newark Museum. For night sky updates, call Newark Skyline at (973) 596-6529.
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