If you are lucky enough to have a clear sky tomorrow night, step outside and look low above the Western horizon during evening twilight. You will be greeted by three extra ‘stars’ that aren’t on any star chart. This is because they aren’t stars but planets.
Mercury will be the most difficult to find as its orbit keeps it closest to the Sun. Mercury reaches greatest elongation East tomorrow (Monday) at 8pm AEST. After tomorrow, Mercury’s movement in its orbit will rapidly carry it back towards the Sun. The best time to see Mercury this year in the evening sky will be in the second half of October.
Finally (and on an unrelated topic), if you have been even casually looking above the Western horizon, you will have noticed that they have been slowly moving towards both the Western horizon and each other. Over the period 10 – 20 March 2012, they will rapidly move towards then pass each other. If you have a few spare minutes up your sleeve, you may want to make an old fashioned flip book showing what this will look like.
I live about 20 miles south of Los Angeles, and the light pollution makes observing difficult, and being close to the ocean, night time haze and fog are also often a problem, but last night the view of Jupiter and Venus was clearly visible. Hallalujah! My favorite astronomy thing to do is to try to see the crescent moon on the first night after the new moon. It is not easy, but I have been able to see it four times so far this year. You usually will need a pair of good binoculars to find the illusive crescent moon, but once spotted, it can be seen with the naked eye. I’m 76 years old, and you are never too old to learn new things! Bob