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• .David. - May 02 2008 | astronomy

  ALERT
  May 6th, Tuesday, you can see Mercury just below the crescent moon. I saw Mecury last night. It's visible - about 45 degrees above the horizon? - as the first 'star' visible as the sun sets.
  The computer says it is only 11° up from the horizon. If you double-click on my picture, you'll see the orrery image from StarryNight™. In the image, Sirius is the bright star on the left and Orion's belt, lying horizontal, is in the middle. In the sky the belt is quite obvious - looking like the handle of the big dipper - wih Beleteguese brightly blue above it (yes, I know it's a red giant.) Orion's belt is a beam of Mercury, more or less, but fainter. As the even gets on, Aldebaran comes into view (the lop left star of the asterism V in Taurus, the bull)
  My thanks to Summer Ash for reminding me to look up Earth&Sky, as heard on NationalPublicRadio (NPR), http://www.earthsky.org/skywatching/