I went out Monday evening, 20 May, to look for Venus, Mercury and Jupiter as the “Trio” conjunction approaches this weekend
Using a pair of 7 x 50 binoculars I found a spot with a low horizon to the west-northwest. This is a bit tricky because Venus and especially Mercury are still low off the horizon
Best time to spot the Trio is about 30 minutes after sunset. At my location this is about 01:20 UT or 9:20 pm local time. The planets will appear as the sky darkens. Venus appeared first since its the brightest of the Trio followed by Jupiter
I measured Jupiter at about 8 degrees above and left of Venus. I knew Mercury would appear below and to the right of Venus
As the sky darkened I positioned Venus at “10 o’clock” in the binoculars field of view and few moments later dim, rusty red Mercury appeared out of the glowing twilight at about the “5 o’clock” position in my field of view
Mercury was just a couple of degrees above a cloud bank and about 5 degrees off the horizon
Mercury and Venus will rapidly climb toward Jupiter over the next few days. Jupiter was about 17 degrees above the horizon Monday evening
The chart above left shows the position of the “Trio” for Tuesday evening, May 21 local time. Click on the chart to enlarge
The “Trio” of planets will bunch together visibly over the coming nights so I encourage you to spend a few moments observing each night
The forecast at my locale is calling for clouds and rain over the next three days
Please send me details of your observations and I will post them here on the website





