Mercury

Mercury is a tough planet to spot. Not because of size or distance, but its orbit in relation to the Sun and Earth. Mercury is a challenge due to its small angular separation from the Sun. Being that Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, it is never far from the Sun's blinding glare. This means that only a few windows throughout the year allow for decent viewing - normally less than a hour after sunset or just before sunrise - and that window only happens for a few weeks.

Mercury moves around the sun faster than any other planet. Mercury travels about 48 km (30 miles) per second and it takes 88 Earth days to orbit the sun. The Planet Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system. It is named after a roman god. Mercury is dry, extremely hot and almost airless. The planet Mercury is too small for its gravity to retain any significant atmosphere over long periods of time. The weak atmosphere contains hydrogen, helium, oxygen, sodium, calcium and potassium. The surface of Mercury consists of cratered terrain and smooth plains and many deep craters similar to those on the moon - non of this was evident in my observations though.

On a clear evening on April 16th at dusk, I found Mercury while probing the western horizon just after the sunset. Due to the bumpy atmospheric conditions near the horizon, Mercury was jumping in and out of focus and was impossible to photograph with any reasonable results. The view was still impressive. A 3/4 crescent (much like Venus) with discernible orange and yellow coloring. Mercury was viewed using a 10mm and 5mm lense. Due to after glow from the sun and its relation to the horizon, even with a magnitude of .90, Mercury is tough to spot with the naked eye. I had to create search patterns with my view finder scope until the planet was discovered. Again, a worthy and rare find.

Some info from http://www.aerospaceguide.net/