Ides of Mercury

The planet Mercury achieved its greatest eastern elongation from the sun for the year at 1:18 pm (CDT) on Thursday, March 15, 2018. During this stage, it was actually higher in the sky than its brighter companion, the planet Venus. Above, the -3.91 magnitude Venus is seen at center, with the -0.15 magnitude Mercury about 3 degrees above and right of it (near top of image) at 7:53 pm CDT.
The image looks west from Radio Road, about one mile east of Highway 13, northeast of Marion, Iowa. It is a 0.4-second exposure at f/6.3, 500 ISO and 85mm focal length. Minutes after this image was captured, clouds from the right moved in and obscured the scene. Air temperature was 41 degrees F.

Shown here the previous evening at 8:02 pm from the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The scene preceded Mercury's greatest eastern elongation by about 17 hours. Air temperature was 43 degrees F. 0.6-second exposure at f/4, 400 ISO and 90mm focal length. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.