Astronomers say that on Feb. 7 there will be the greates elongation moment for Mercury. It will be located 18 degrees from the sun and can be seen either with your astronomical binoculars like Galileo Astro Binoculars G-1570 very close to Venus, only eight degrees away. If you haven’t yet seen Mercury, this will be the best opportunity and perfect time for your start. Or you can take your trusty digital binoculars, wait for sunset, and as soon as you see the brightest object near the sunset, look to west for the fainter. And if you find one, it’ll be Mercury.

Because Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, it’s very hard to observe it with the eye or even with observation binoculars. This event of the greatest Mercury elongation has no physical significance but it gives us the opportunity to study its surface features.

Last night right after the sunset I was looking at the sky with my astronomical Celestron binoculars, and noticed something unusual. There a was a star, a very bright one, which I haven’t seen before, and which appeared very suddenly. First I thought it was a star, when I came home and started learning about it and reading books. I realized that it’s might be a comet, not a star… And most likely it’s Venus. So, here’s what I’ve learnt:
Venus is our nearest neighbour in space apart from the moon, about the same size as Earth. At times, our orbits around the sun bring us close to each other, that’s why we see so a so bright star on the sky. As the weeks go by we’ll see this "new star" rise higher and higher in the sky after sunset. It will also become even brighter, mostly because it is getting closer to us as it chases us in our own orbit around the sun.
In the late May it will be as high in our night sky as it ever gets because it reaches a position where it is at its maximum apparent distance from the sun. After this point Venus will start moving back towards the sun, sinking quite quickly lower and lower until, by late July.
So, go out after the sunset today, take a pair of your binoculars and explore the sky, Venus and other planets, comets and constellation. Who knows, you might discover a new planet, or a star… And it’ll be called after you, isn’t that amazing? So, don’t sit at home watching TV, go out and start adventures…. Good luck and clear skies to you!!!