Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Monday, February 11th.  The sun will rise at 7:48.  It’ll be up for 10 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 6:05.   The moon, 1 day past new, will set at 8:09 this evening.

Mercury will appear below the skinny crescent moon tonight shortly after sunset.  The best time to spot them is about 6:45 p.m. looking very low to the west southwestern horizon.  Binoculars as always are a real help in picking them out of the evening twilight.  Mercury will appear about 6 degrees or 12 moon widths below the moon.  They will be actually at their closest appearance this afternoon, and will have separated a bit before we will get to see them.  As a rule of thumb, the moon will move its diameter against the stars in an hour’s time.  Mercury’s got its thing going too.  In 5 days it will be at greatest elongation or apparent angle of separation from the sun of about 18.1 degrees.  At about the same time Mercury will actually pass its closest to the sun.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Mercury and the moon at 7:15 p.m. on February 11, 2013. Created using Stellarium. Note a one day old moon doesn’t show well in this view.