Towards Conjunction

Tonight, a clear western horizon shows Venus.
I imagine a line to the sunset
which intersects Mercury below it but ascending
each night while Venus descends, their conjunction
next week even if we don’t notice.

 

A conjunction of Mercury and Venus appears above the Moon, as viewed from the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile – Image: ESO/Y. Beletsky, CC BY 4.0

 

From mid-May through the end of the month, Mercury is visible after sunset below Venus above where the Sun set. Past mid-month, Mercury ascends while Venus descends toward its June 3 passage between the Earth and the Sun and their conjunction will come May 20/21.

Moon in the east this week is,

a thinning crescent as it slowly sweeps
past four bright morning planets – first Jupiter
then Mars, Saturn and Mercury, the crescent
points at them this morning of equinox.
Golden Saturn invisible to me – but there.

Mercury in Transit

Inner planet Mercury transits the sun today.

Astrologers pay attention. A small black dot

crossing the sun’s face.  The last transit

was 2016 but the next is 2032.

Sun transiting my face this cold afternoon.

 

Earthshine

Slender lunar crescent in the western sky.

First thing we see this spring dusk.

And the Moon’s shy dark side illuminated

in earthshine – sunlight reflected from our Earth.

“Is that Mars or Mercury?,” she asks.