THE SKY IN JULY AND AUGUST

摘要

Mercury, still near the much brighter Venus after their close encounter late last month, shines in the western evening twilight at magnitude 0.1 as July begins. Mercury is less than a degree to the left of Venus; the two planets can be found just above the west-northwestern horizon about forty minutes after sunset. During the following two weeks the pair slowly separates, as Mercury appears to pivot around and below Venus. By the evening of the 13th, Mercury lies three and a half degrees directly below Venus, but Mercury appears only about half as bright as it did at the start of the month, so I recommend looking through binoculars to find the planet. After midmonth Mercury fades rapidly from the evening sky.