Mercury is at its greatest western elongation (distance) from the sun on Friday, Oct. 16. Look for Mercury starting at 5:45 a.m. It will be 8 degrees above the eastern horizon. Twenty degrees higher than Mercury is bright Jupiter, only one-half a degree below Mars. Ever brilliant Venus is 7 degrees above Jupiter and Mars.
The next morning Jupiter and Mars will be less than a half-degree apart. Look at them with binoculars or a low-power telescope. They still will be very close together on Sunday, Oct. 18. If you follow Jupiter and Mars for the next several days, you will see Mars move slowly eastward away from Jupiter while Venus is moving closer to Jupiter.
The speed of a planetβs movement across the sky is inverse to its distance from the sun. The closer to the sun, the faster it moves. Mercury is the closest to the sun and is never around for long.
Venus is the next planet from the sun and moves fairly rapidly. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun (Earth is the third) and moves slowly, while Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun moves, very slowly.
