Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 23rd. The Sun will rise at 7:49. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 5:07. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 9:33 this evening.

Mercury is going to reach its greatest elongation or apparent separation from the Sun this evening. It will be 22 degrees east of the Sun. Because Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, it is never seen far from it. And because it has the most eccentric orbit of all the planets its greatest elongations are between 17 and 27 degrees from the Sun. Other than that the best times of the year to see Mercury are late winter and early spring evenings and late summer and early autumn mornings. Being an autumn evening means that Mercury is almost too low to spot after sunset. The southern hemisphere is in spring, so Mercury tonight will be much easier seen. Also their best view is when Mercury is farther from the Sun.

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

Addendum

There are rather clinical charts.  The horizontal line through the W (western compass point) is the horizon.  Grid marks are 10 degrees apart.

Diagram showing the poor placement of Mercury at greatest eastern elongation tonight in autumn from 45 degrees north latitude. Mercury is about 8.5 degrees altitude at sunset. The orange line is the ecliptic, the path pf the Sun on the celestial sphere. Created using Stellarium.

Diagram showing the great placement of Mercury at greatest eastern elongation tonight in southern hemisphere spring from 45 degrees south latitude. Mercury is nearly 19 degrees altitude at sunset. The orange line is the ecliptic, the path pf the Sun on the celestial sphere. Created using Stellarium.