Have you seen Venus and Mercury? Photos here

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mike Shaw captured this beautiful image on May 20. He wrote: “The Mercury – Venus conjunction of 2020 is seen here setting over a peaceful lake in the Carlos Avery Wildlife Refuge in central Minnesota. If only the sounds of the frogs and songbirds could be included! Reflections of both planets are visible in the still lake surface, a good indicator of the serenity of the evening. This image was made under the provisions of a Special Use permit to access the normally closed wildlife refuge at night.” Mike has a wider view of this same scene, here. Thank you, Mike!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Helio C. Vital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil captured Venus and Mercury on May 20, when they were about 3 degrees apart. As viewed from the Southern Hemisphere, Mercury was seen to the lower left of Venus that night. These objects are moving rapidly on the sky’s dome with respect to each other. Your perspective on them also shifts as seen from various parts of the globe. Try Stellarium for a precise view from your location. Thank you, Helio!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jenney Disimon in Sabah, N. Borneo caught Venus and Mercury on May 19, 2020. Thank you, Jenney!

View larger at EarthSky Community Photos. | Peter Lowenstein in the Southern Hemisphere (Mutare, Zimbabwe) made a successful attempt to photograph Venus and Mercury setting after sunset on Monday, May 18, 2020. In the larger version of this mosaic, you can see both planets. Venus is bright, and above the crest of the hill. Mercury is fainter and lower in the sky, above the lower ridgeline of the hill, in the bottom middle of the photo. You can see that Mercury comes close to setting behind the hill as the mosaic progresses from upper left to bottom right (as time passes after sunset). Thank you, Peter!