Since I’ve taken up stargazing again in
2010 the opportunity to see Mercury, that sun-hugging innermost planet, has
never arose. In other words I have never seen Mercury, truly a confession any
stargazer should be ashamed of.
My Central London observing site (my
terrace at my home) provides a good Eastern facing aspect but objects low in
the Western sky are obscured by houses. Mercury and other planets close to the
setting sun are beyond my reach.
The triple conjunction of Jupiter, Venus
and Mercury in late May 2013, when all three planets were within 5 degrees of
each other soon after sunset, provoked me to attempt to see Mercury for the
first time.
Credit: Chris Schur.
Could
I find a near-by site to view a western horizon within Central London with my
telescope? No. And as I didn’t wish to travel outside town I decided to go
Mercury hunting in London street armed with my binoculars, an old East German Carl
Zeiss 10x50 pair.
On the evening of the 27th May I
walked to a suitable vantage spot in a Central London street and waited on a
pavement for dusk and the appearance of the triplet. The spot turned out not to
be sufficiently suitable: no planets were seen, buildings still hindered my
view. I tried again the following evening in another street – another failure.
There are too many buildings in London. I did succeed in receiving suspicious
glances from passers-by who must have wondered why I was peering through
binoculars, one community support office (a traffic warden) ending his shift engaged
me in conversation demanding to know what I was up to.
Mercury had to wait until my first 2013
trip to the Canaries planned for June. Meanwhile I resolved never to attempt
again on-street observing.
From my experiences you should always find a suitable bush from which to observe from.
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