Mercury and the Moon

For the next week, Mercury makes an appearance in the morning sky 40 minutes before sunrise. Look to the east at 6:50 a.m. for a starlike object hovering low above the horizon. This is Mercury. On October 26, the moon is to its upper right and above the moon shines Saturn. (One morning earlier the moon sat to the right of Saturn.) This is the year's best opportunity to see little Mercury since it is so close to the sun most of the time.

Such is our view from Earth ...