Mercury last night, along with Venus and Jupiter
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William Bottaci
Jun 9, 2026, 3:16:54 PMJun 9
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Mercury is now rising rapidly in the west, favourably inclined at this time of year, but visible for just a few weeks. Seen and imaged on the 29th, 31st May, 2nd and 8th June. There is a low gap in the trees to the northwest at Kenley which makes observation favourable. Attached is an image from last night, this time from the viewpoint at Addington Hills off Shirley Hills Road (I know these names are contradictory, I took them straight off Google Maps). I was accompanied by fellow member Mahmood who kindly kept me company and shared the observation.
We took 132 images - to ensure at least a few will come out well - from the first at 9:58 pm to the last at 10:51 pm when several minutes after that it would be lost behind low cloud. Cropped from the original. If viewing on a mobile you'll definitely need to zoom in; computer or tablet will be okay.
The attached was taken at 10:34 pm (sunset was 9:14 pm) and Mercury was visible from the first image, but it took a few minutes before it was visible to the naked eye as the sky was too light. Venus is the brighter of the two planets to the upper left, just crossing each other with Venus rising and Jupiter heading behind the sun. So where is Mercury in the image? On the right there are twin cranes with red lights above the horizon, go upwards from the leftmost one about a third above the horizon.
Stars Castor and Pollux of the constellation Gemini are visible when I aimed higher, and at least one original image shows at least 20 definite stars; not bad at 1 second, ISO 200, f/5.6, 50 mm, and close to a bright horizon. The attached shows 6 stars, all in the top area.
William
STOP PRESS: Forecasts for tonight are far better than last night; I'll be going up to the viewpoint at Addington Hills now, (road entrance to the Royal Garden Chinese Garden, plenty of free parking at the grounds) being there to catch the sunset and staying for more of the planets.
=CanR7_093940_M-160.jpg (235K)=
We took 132 images - to ensure at least a few will come out well - from the first at 9:58 pm to the last at 10:51 pm when several minutes after that it would be lost behind low cloud. Cropped from the original. If viewing on a mobile you'll definitely need to zoom in; computer or tablet will be okay.
The attached was taken at 10:34 pm (sunset was 9:14 pm) and Mercury was visible from the first image, but it took a few minutes before it was visible to the naked eye as the sky was too light. Venus is the brighter of the two planets to the upper left, just crossing each other with Venus rising and Jupiter heading behind the sun. So where is Mercury in the image? On the right there are twin cranes with red lights above the horizon, go upwards from the leftmost one about a third above the horizon.
Stars Castor and Pollux of the constellation Gemini are visible when I aimed higher, and at least one original image shows at least 20 definite stars; not bad at 1 second, ISO 200, f/5.6, 50 mm, and close to a bright horizon. The attached shows 6 stars, all in the top area.
William
STOP PRESS: Forecasts for tonight are far better than last night; I'll be going up to the viewpoint at Addington Hills now, (road entrance to the Royal Garden Chinese Garden, plenty of free parking at the grounds) being there to catch the sunset and staying for more of the planets.
=CanR7_093940_M-160.jpg (235K)=
drja...@aol.com
Jun 10, 2026, 1:38:16 AMJun 10
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Very good William. An interesting but not distracting background. Mercury is easily visible on my phone in landscape and full screen, following your directions about where to look in the frame. Did you try any higher ISO shots to capture more stars?
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William Bottaci
Jun 12, 2026, 1:54:27 PMJun 12
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Hello James
Thank you for the reply and glad to have helped you find and capture Mercury.
On using a higher ISO, there are pros and cons, but now that I've tried ISO 200 I'm going to try a series from 400 to 1600. For my camera the optimised dynamic range is at 100, then 200, then 400, but there is also an advantage at 1600. It's a bit complicated, a lot to do with the balance between the image light and the electronic noise of the camera circuitry; and more, which is really a different subject.
Ultimately one always wants as much light as possible without being overexposed. For this subject it is tricky. Both Venus and Jupiter are overexposed, Mercury is on the limit (red over, green on limit, blue just under) so on average about right. However, as Mercury is small it would benefit from being brighter (slightly larger image) just to make it easier to see. This is against a background sky so there's a balance for contrast. The rest of the image, background buildings, are unimportant unless going for a scenic view.
Then there's always post processing, which will improve things up to a point.
Anway, attached is Mercury taken a day later on Tuesday 9th, same place (and I should have said that to the viewpoint the sub-road off the main road is signposted for the Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant).
Something to bear in mind. When trying to see a small point near the size of your viewing screen pixels, varying the magnification gives varying results. There are viewing magnifications where Mercury disappears, and yet reappears at an even lower magnification. Something to watch out for.
On this image Mercury is again positioned in the bottom right, about 15% in from the right, 45% up from the bottom, just above a floccus of intrusive cloud.
For the most detail it needs to be viewed at 100% size (1600 px vertical) and when downloaded. Most if not all browsers and viewers show a quick degraded image in situ otherwise.
What is the value of this particular observation? It's rarity. Because:
- Mercury is good for only a few weeks at each elongation;
- Sometimes the orbit plane is twisted downwards and then it never rises high, so we have to contend with a lower horizon, low cloud and lighter sky;
- Having any bright planet in the vicinity is rare, and this time we have both of the brightest;
- Spring to Summer is optimal for a higher altitude;
- An evening appearance is more convenient than very early morning.
The three together in the evening happens only every 40 years, and even rarer to occur in the summer (this is why I urge anyone, especially if never having seen Mercury before, to have a try.
Just thought, I've also attached a 4k version; as Mercury is so small it'll fit 100% on a 4k screen, such as a television.
William
=CanR7_094021_M-160.jpg (236K)=
=CanR7_094021_M-216.jpg (383K)=
Thank you for the reply and glad to have helped you find and capture Mercury.
On using a higher ISO, there are pros and cons, but now that I've tried ISO 200 I'm going to try a series from 400 to 1600. For my camera the optimised dynamic range is at 100, then 200, then 400, but there is also an advantage at 1600. It's a bit complicated, a lot to do with the balance between the image light and the electronic noise of the camera circuitry; and more, which is really a different subject.
Ultimately one always wants as much light as possible without being overexposed. For this subject it is tricky. Both Venus and Jupiter are overexposed, Mercury is on the limit (red over, green on limit, blue just under) so on average about right. However, as Mercury is small it would benefit from being brighter (slightly larger image) just to make it easier to see. This is against a background sky so there's a balance for contrast. The rest of the image, background buildings, are unimportant unless going for a scenic view.
Then there's always post processing, which will improve things up to a point.
Anway, attached is Mercury taken a day later on Tuesday 9th, same place (and I should have said that to the viewpoint the sub-road off the main road is signposted for the Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant).
Something to bear in mind. When trying to see a small point near the size of your viewing screen pixels, varying the magnification gives varying results. There are viewing magnifications where Mercury disappears, and yet reappears at an even lower magnification. Something to watch out for.
On this image Mercury is again positioned in the bottom right, about 15% in from the right, 45% up from the bottom, just above a floccus of intrusive cloud.
For the most detail it needs to be viewed at 100% size (1600 px vertical) and when downloaded. Most if not all browsers and viewers show a quick degraded image in situ otherwise.
What is the value of this particular observation? It's rarity. Because:
- Mercury is good for only a few weeks at each elongation;
- Sometimes the orbit plane is twisted downwards and then it never rises high, so we have to contend with a lower horizon, low cloud and lighter sky;
- Having any bright planet in the vicinity is rare, and this time we have both of the brightest;
- Spring to Summer is optimal for a higher altitude;
- An evening appearance is more convenient than very early morning.
The three together in the evening happens only every 40 years, and even rarer to occur in the summer (this is why I urge anyone, especially if never having seen Mercury before, to have a try.
Just thought, I've also attached a 4k version; as Mercury is so small it'll fit 100% on a 4k screen, such as a television.
William
=CanR7_094021_M-160.jpg (236K)=
=CanR7_094021_M-216.jpg (383K)=
On Wed, 10 Jun 2026 at 06:38, 'drja...@aol.com' via croydonastro <croydo...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Very good William. An interesting but not distracting background. Mercury is easily visible on my phone in landscape and full screen, following your directions about where to look in the frame. Did you try any higher ISO shots to capture more stars?
James
2026-06-09
Mercury last night, along with Venus and Jupiter
Mercury last night, along with Venus and Jupiter
Mercury is now rising rapidly in the west, favourably inclined at this time of year, but visible for just a few weeks. Seen and imaged on the 29th, 31st May, 2nd and 8th June. There is a low gap in the trees to the northwest at Kenley which makes observation favourable. Attached is an image from last night, this time from the viewpoint at Addington Hills off Shirley Hills Road (I know these names are contradictory, I took them straight off Google Maps). I was accompanied by fellow member Mahmood who kindly kept me company and shared the observation.
We took 132 images - to ensure at least a few will come out well - from the first at 9:58 pm to the last at 10:51 pm when several minutes after that it would be lost behind low cloud. Cropped from the original. If viewing on a mobile you'll definitely need to zoom in; computer or tablet will be okay.
The attached was taken at 10:34 pm (sunset was 9:14 pm) and Mercury was visible from the first image, but it took a few minutes before being visible to the naked eye as the sky was too light. Venus is the brighter of the two planets to the upper left, just crossing each other with Venus rising and Jupiter heading behind the sun. So where is Mercury in the image? On the right there are twin cranes with red lights above the horizon, go upwards from the leftmost one about a third above the horizon.
Stars Castor and Pollux of the constellation Gemini are visible when I aimed higher, and at least one original image shows at least 20 definite stars; not bad at 1 second, ISO 200, f/5.6, 50 mm, and close to a bright horizon. The attached shows 6 stars, all in the top area.
William
STOP PRESS: Forecasts for tonight are far better than last night; I'll be going up to the viewpoint at Addington Hills now, (road entrance to the Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant, plenty of free parking at the grounds) being there to catch the sunset and staying for more of the planets.
=CanR7_093940_M-160.jpg (235K)=
=CanR7_093940_M-160.jpg (235K)=
William Bottaci
Jun 13, 2026, 2:48:55 PMJun 13
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Taken last night from the same place, Addington Hills viewpoint, third time this week, Friday 12th.
In this image Mercury is again positioned in the bottom right, about 25% in from the right, 40% up from the bottom, between two thin lines of cloud.
In this image Mercury is again positioned in the bottom right, about 25% in from the right, 40% up from the bottom, between two thin lines of cloud.
For the most detail it needs to be viewed at 100% size (1600 px vertical) and when downloaded. Most if not all browsers and viewers show a quick degraded image in situ otherwise.
Weather again looks favourable, and Mercury will be noticeable higher and a little easier to see. Last night visible in 2x42 'binoculars' at 9:55 pm, it will be seen earlier in proper binoculars, and the last image taken was at 11 pm but by then it was in the murk.
William
=CanR7_094292_M-160.jpg (248K)=
=CanR7_094292_M-216.jpg (438K)=
2026-06-12
William
=CanR7_094292_M-160.jpg (248K)=
=CanR7_094292_M-216.jpg (438K)=
2026-06-12
Graham Cluer (CAS)
Jun 13, 2026, 4:57:34 PMJun 13
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Nice shot!
Graham Cluer
Graham Cluer
David Bagnall
Jun 14, 2026, 12:02:52 PMJun 14
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Great pictures William :) we've had some good views from here too, mostly with some 8x40 binoculars actually; slippery little thing though isn't it; mercurial one might even say, as it seems to like to wink in and out of sight from the haze...
Dave
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