Still time to spot Mercury on its amazing race A rare close-up
of elusive Mercury captured by NASA. Photo: AP THERE is little
chance you will notice Alan Jones if he is standing next to Brad
Pitt; the difference in magnitude is just too great. This is
what happens when we try to spy Mercury. The smallest planet is
almost always too near the sun to stand out. Even so, two, maybe
three times a year we might get a brief window of opportunity
for a few days to see it in the eastern sky before sunrise - or
as is the case now, in the western sky after sunset. At a recent
meeting of the Astronomical Society of Victoria attended by more
than 100 astronomers, when I asked the question of how many had
seen Mercury with their own eyes, fewer than half put their
hands in the air. This underlines the difficulty of glimpsing
the fleet-footed planet in our skies. Now is a good time to
change all that. Mercury races around our central star,
completing one orbit in 88 days; hence it was given the name of
the speedy messenger