November 24, 2019
Favorable Mercury apparition
Mercury is having its best morning apparition of the year. First, we all knew that it started when Mercury crossed the face of the sun on November 11th which is known as the Transit. It became quickly as a morning object before sunrise. Due to the ecliptic angle which is very steep this time of the year, Mercury stands already high in the morning twilight. It will approach the greatest elongation on November 28th about 20 degrees west of the sun.
I already took my first images on November 23rd and it shows a fat crescent. There is a suspicious white region on the north side near the cusp and most likely it is a rayed crater according the MESSENGER image. During the coming days, two more features will be visible in the southern hemisphere. They are Ellington and Debussy which are the two most prominent ray craters visible from earth. Mercury’ phase will approach half to gibbous during the first week of December and most of the surface will be exposed. Much more details can be seen at this time.
Please take advantage of observing and imaging Mercury while it is the best morning apparition of the year and the most prominent features of the surface will be facing us.
