APOD: Moon Meets Mercury
apod.nasa.gov — On Tuesday, May 6, while standing on planet Earth and sweeping your binoculars along the western horizon just after sunset, you might have encountered this arresting skyscape. The view features a slender crescent Moon and bright planet Mercury separated on the sky by only about 2 degrees.
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- VocalsMag, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4cool
- Aeroslin, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5Very nice
- wicketr, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1What's "very nice" was for them to clarify that I had to be standing on Planet Earth to view this with my binoculars. For a minute there I was confused.
- Kastor49, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3Quiet perfect
- gametavern, on 05/09/2008, -1/+8Cue John Williams Music.
- Shadowgamers, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Cue Hal :V
- EricAnderton, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1That's no moon...
- verkon, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1it's yo' momma!
- Pete1the1gamer, on 05/09/2008, -18/+1Amazing how this stuff supposedly "evolved" over millions of years...
- Chassit, on 05/09/2008, -2/+3Wow.
- ldailey06, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4THAT JUST HAPPENED
- haydesigner, on 05/09/2008, -1/+5Amazing how Pete1the1gamer graduated high school.
Oh, wait...- Pete1the1gamer, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1Although important, education shouldn't be the "end all" for conversations like this. And for the record I'm working on a double masters.
- castevens, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4Get your money back.
- studdenfadden, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3Degrees from Devry do not count.
- slifty, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2Who needs education when you have religion to tell you the way things work, AMIRITE?!?!?!
:D
- Pete1the1gamer, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1Although important, education shouldn't be the "end all" for conversations like this. And for the record I'm working on a double masters.
- twertyto, on 05/09/2008, -2/+5They didn't "evolve" over millions of years. Mercury and the Moon formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago out of the accretion disk of the proto-planetary Sun.
- slifty, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5Hold on hold on, let's not jump to conclusions guys... Maybe he wasn't talking about the "evolution" of non-organic chunks of rock but was ACTUALLY talking about the evolution of the mercurian-moon-beings that only show themselves when mercury and the moon meet once every million years...
Is that what you meant?- GratefulGroover, on 05/10/2008, -0/+2noble effort
- kreejo, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2Holst: The Planets comes to mind...wonderful view
- nickcozy, on 05/09/2008, -2/+5Its Mr.Babyman .
- ensta2, on 05/09/2008, -9/+5That is a fantastic photograph. The beauty that exists here on Earth... This is God's majesty
- imitokay, on 05/09/2008, -3/+5who is this... god you speak of
- Veretax, on 05/09/2008, -4/+2He is that still voice you've ignored in your head.
- imitokay, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2voice in my head?? ohhh you mean my conscience, thats not a god, silly
- Veretax, on 05/09/2008, -4/+2He is that still voice you've ignored in your head.
- scubaman5000, on 05/09/2008, -1/+5This is Nature's majesty
- moc817, on 05/10/2008, -1/+1Oh yes. Nature's majesty, created by the hands of a loving God who has graced us with the ability to utilize all of our mental facets in examining His beauty.
- GratefulGroover, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1Screw you this is the Giant Spaghetti Monster's majesty and don't you forget it!
- imitokay, on 05/09/2008, -3/+5who is this... god you speak of
- rancemo, on 05/09/2008, -3/+1Server down. Government fails again!
- MasterGrief, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4I was just looking at a yellowey point of light last night through my telescope, thinking it was too big to be a star and assuming it was Mercury. I went back inside and didn't give it another thought, and then, here on digg the next day, I see that my assumption was correct. If anyone else thinks they want to look at Mercury through a three hundred dollar telescope, don't waste your time. You can't make out anything.
- twertyto, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1Mercury can be seen if you look due west just above the horizon no more than a couple hours after sunset.
- MasterGrief, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1You see, I had known that, but I was never able to see it in that position due to my living in flat-land suburbs... Too many houses in the way. I believe Saturn has the same problem, but maybe that's only part of the time, because I remember something about it being able to be seen from near the moon at certain points as well.
- twertyto, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Mercury and Saturn have different viewing constraints however. Saturn can be seen anywhere along the ecliptic at any time at night. Mercury since it is between the Sun and the Earth can only be seen for a couple hours after sunset or couple hours before sunrise on the ecliptic near the horizon. You won't never, for example, be able to see Mercury (or Venus for that matter) around midnight.
- MasterGrief, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1Ah, well alright then. Thank you.
- twertyto, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Mercury and Saturn have different viewing constraints however. Saturn can be seen anywhere along the ecliptic at any time at night. Mercury since it is between the Sun and the Earth can only be seen for a couple hours after sunset or couple hours before sunrise on the ecliptic near the horizon. You won't never, for example, be able to see Mercury (or Venus for that matter) around midnight.
- MasterGrief, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1You see, I had known that, but I was never able to see it in that position due to my living in flat-land suburbs... Too many houses in the way. I believe Saturn has the same problem, but maybe that's only part of the time, because I remember something about it being able to be seen from near the moon at certain points as well.
- twertyto, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1Mercury can be seen if you look due west just above the horizon no more than a couple hours after sunset.
- nixr, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5That's no moon.....
/obligatory - shorrobi, on 05/09/2008, -2/+3I always enjoy checking out the planets and stars in out night skies. Its as if time stands still.
- GratefulGroover, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1Do you enjoy long walks one the beach too? How about puppies....?
- slifty, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2That's no mercury.....
- Duositex, on 05/09/2008, -2/+2So I'm starting to wonder why it is that I seem to see more APODs than there are days... Secondly, is it necessary to post these daily to digg?
- twertyto, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Mercury v. Moon
Round 1
Fight! - Velvolver, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3Earth is giving mercury the moon
- bouche, on 05/09/2008, -4/+3I've got news for you. You can SUBSCRIBE to the RSS feed of these pictures and see them every day that way. No need to post them and digg them on Digg.com ev-ery sing-le *****-ing day.
- trezegol, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2while partly I agree with you, they're still nice to see when you cant use feeds.. for example... @ work.
Anyway astronomy is way too cool not to be noticed.
- trezegol, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2while partly I agree with you, they're still nice to see when you cant use feeds.. for example... @ work.
- steaprok, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1very cool
- linksus, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1See, Mercury isnt close to the sun.
- colonels1020, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1aPod
- majordanger, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Mercury is a tough one to see... almost as difficult as that other ex-planet...um what was it called?
Named after some disney dog?- easyxluckyxfree, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0back when I was a kid, Pluto was a planet...
- moc817, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2I'm currently failing to come up with words to properly describe the beauty captured in this picture. I suppose this is an example of human language attempting to butcher 'beauty' with an inadequate description, while God laughs at our futile attempts to envelope His artwork with our pathetic means of communication - and the limited descriptive ability it allows.
- GratefulGroover, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1Then stop talking!
- GratefulGroover, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1Ahhhhhh, Planet X! We're Dooooomed! We are all doo... oops sorry dropped my tinfoil hat.
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