Jupiter emerging; Mercury low

Event Date: May 13th
Time: 5:45 AM

brief

I have two positives to mention and one...not something else, not so much so.

Good #1: Mercury continues to slowly brighten and now is an impressive -0.7.  Although low towards the horizon before Sunrise, the planet may still be possible to pick up with optical aid through atmospheric pollution.
Good #2:  Mercury and Jupiter will have a very close conjunction coming up over the next few days when Mercury is -1.6 in magnitude and Jupiter is a little brighter at -2.0.
Now, what is the bummer, you ask?  If you have followed my entries for the last two weeks or--even better--for longer, you may recall that Jupiter was approaching conjunction for several weeks, and just barely hovering over the Sun barely visible at the end of April.  As for Mercury, it has been approaching inferior conjunction for a few weeks now.  Therefore, forget about good #2, making my mentioning it sortof worthless (sorry!) as the conjunction will not be visible to us from Earth; both planets will be deep in the glare of the Sun.

detailed

   With the above mentioned, silliness aside, you may wondering why did I bother waste time mentioning good #2?  Simple: even if we cannot see a planetary conjunction, it is good to (1) acknowledge them as a result of very close ones being rare; (2) it helps astronomers worldwide to remember to stay up to date with planet positions as they revolve around the Sun.  The next time that there is a either a very close conjunction of two planets, or less-close ones of two bright planets such as Venus and Jupiter at 3º back on March 13th.
   Finally, for those wondering when we will see Jupiter easily again, after the Mercury conjunction, it will not be long: try looking low in the east-northeast in early June.  Despite lots of glare from the early-rising Sun, bright Jupiter may be barely visible to the eye alone by these first weeks of summer.  Jupiter will be easily visible as a very good morning target as the Sun eventually moves just south of it a few weeks later.
   For today's date, I will label the two planets, with Jupiter deep in the Sun's glare behind it.  For the next few weeks, watch the separation of Jupiter from the Sun, as Jupiter rises a little more than 3 minutes earlier each day, still moving quickly in pro-grade motion, in the constellation of Taurus the Bull.

click on image to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.