2001
Nov 10: Nearing the end of a rare longlasting conjunction
of Mercury and Venus that began at the end of October with the two planets
remaining within a degree of each in the dawn sky. A gibbous and
brilliant Venus [mag -3.9; 10"arc] was a convenient marker for Mercury
[3 mags fainter] that changed from 7" arc crescent to 5" arc gibbous during
this period and seen on many mornings in the ESE about 0600UT. In
my many years of skywatching Mercury was never an easier object
for the naked eye. Later on two mornings ~1100 UT during meridian passage
images were captured in full sunlight - the autumn sun partially shielded
by a willow tree. A Minolta D7 digital camera handheld at x7 zoom
to the x150 eyepiece of a 30cm SCT.
