Look low on the southwestern horizon at sundown on Nov. 12 for an opportunity to see swift Mercury near the pink mild of Mars within the night sky, however truthful warning — you will must be fast to identify the elusive planets earlier than they slip rapidly out of sight.
Mercury might be positioned roughly 5 levels above the horizon at sundown on Nov. 12, with Mars shining roughly 1 diploma to its higher proper. Keep in mind: the width of your three center fingers held at arm’s size accounts for five levels within the evening sky, whereas the span of your little finger is the equal to roughly 1 diploma.
Mercury will have leapt to the right of Mars by the following evening and will continue its journey westward in the nights that follow. Mars and Mercury are positioned close to the sun in November and so the utmost care must be taken not to point a telescope or binoculars in their direction until the sun is safely below the horizon. You can check sunset times for your location using the website TimeandDate.
The past month has seen Mercury and Mars perform a delicate dance, during which the innermost planet tracked a path from right to left beneath the Red Planet in Earth’s sky, before appearing to retrace its steps, as its tight orbital leash brought it closer to the sun. This visual effect is known as retrograde motion and occurs in November as faster Mercury draws alongside and passes Earth in its orbit, making the planet temporarily travel east to west in our sky. Mars, meanwhile, continues its apparent ‘prograde motion’, moving west to east through the starfield beyond.
Both worlds will appear progressively lower on the horizon at sunset in the coming months ahead of their respective solar conjunctions, when they will be at their closest to the sun in Earth’s sky — an event that will occur on Nov. 20 for Mercury and in January 2026 for Mars.
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