All last week, Venus and Mercury have dominated the western horizon during twilight, and this week should also be rewarding, weather permitting. Thursday was a little hazier then previous evenings, but I finally figured out how to manage a photograph through an upstairs window. Outside, the wind chill was around 10 degrees, much too cold for fiddling with a miniature, metal camera on a metal tripod. Indoors, my challenge was to prevent the window from fogging.

Venus is the brightest object. Draw an imaginary line between Venus and the neighbor's lighted window, then measure about four tenths the distance along that line from Venus. My 40-meter ham radio antenna (a thin wire) passes just to the right of Mercury. Temporarily adjust your monitor's brightness, if necessary.

The actual sight is more dramatic. On February 7, Mercury was at greatest elongation from the Sun, so this is a good time to observe while the colder weather also makes the atmosphere near the horizon more transparent.

Observed through a telescope, Mercury exhibits phases like our Moon. Right now around 50% illuminated, this amount will wane over the next two weeks while Mercury slides between us and the Sun, then gradually becomes a morning object before sunrise during March.