SkyEye

The upper chart shows the path of Mercury across the background stars over the course of the year. Stars to magnitude +4.5 are shown with some fainter objects included to complete constellation patterns. The white circles represent the planet on the first day of the month and are scaled according to apparent magnitude. The faint paths before the first circle and after the last circle represent the planet's positions in December of last year and January of next. In general, the planet moves from right to left except when it's in retrograde and proceding in the opposite direction. As an inferior planet, Mercury never strays far from the Sun so it always begins and ends the year near the constellation of Sagittarius, located about one quarter of the way in from the left side of the chart.

The lower charts show how the appearance of Mercury changes over the year. Below each image is listed the date, the apparent magnitude, the apparent diameter of the disk (in arc-seconds), the geocentric distance (in au), the elongation from the Sun (in degrees) and the percentage of the disk which is illuminated. Like the Moon, Mercury exhibits a complete range of phases, from new to crescent to gibbous to full and back again. Because its synodic period is around four months, Mercury completes this phase cycle three times each year. Note how Mercury's magnitude varies widely, ranging (approximately) from −2.0 to +6.0 between conjunctions.

Mercury begins the year as a morning sky object. The planet reaches superior conjunction before the end of the month but there are three more morning apparitions to come. April's appearance is especially good for observers in southern latitudes whilst August and November favour the northern hemisphere. Mercury also appears in the west after sunset. The February apparition is best viewed from the north whilst October provides excellent viewing opportunities for the southern hemisphere. The June appearance is equally fine for both hemispheres. Inferior conjunction in November is particularly interesting this year as the planet is also at its ascending node, meaning it is crossing the ecliptic at the same time. This happy coincidence means planet watchers will be able to witness Mercury transit the Sun on 11 November.

• Apparitions of the Inferior Planets from Latitude 50° North
• Apparitions of the Inferior Planets from Latitude 10° North
• Apparitions of the Inferior Planets from Latitude 30° South

Because the orbits of the planets are tilted slightly to the plane of the ecliptic, a planet normally passes to the north or the south of the Sun at conjunction. However, if the planet is near a node (the place in the orbit where the planet crosses the ecliptic) when it reaches conjunction, the planet may appear to cross in front of or behind the disk of the Sun. This situation occurs in November when Mercury actually passes in front of the Sun from the vantage point of Earth. This phenomenon is known as a transit.

Sources

The dates, times and circumstances of all planetary and lunar phenomena were calculated from the JPL DE406 solar system ephemeris using the same rigorous methods that are employed in the compilation of publications such as The Astronomical Almanac.