Don't Miss Mercury and the Moon on the Evening of June 27

Mercury is a very elusive planet as it is in general too close to the Sun to be seen during the night. Luckily in a few situations like the one occurring at the end of June 2025, Mercury reaches a particularly large angular distance from the Sun, creating more favorable observing conditions. 

Even in these situations, finding Mercury might be a challenge because of its low altitude on the horizon and the residual brightness of the sky. On the evening of June 27 however the Waxing Crescent Moon will join the scene and will facilitate the localization of the planet.

The star map below shows what you can expect to see looking towards the western horizon about 45 minutes after sunset on June 27. This maps is calculated for Central Europe. Observers in the Americas, which will view the scene a few hours later, can expect to see a similar configuration, though the Moon will be positioned a bit farther from Mercury. Mercury will appear as a bright star (its magnitude will be 0.19) with a slight orange color.

The star map also reveals another way to locate Mercury: draw an imaginary line connecting the two brightest stars of the Gemini constellation, staring from Castor (magnitude 1.98), passing through Pollux (magnitude 1.19) , and extending for about two times the distance of the two bright stars.

Finally, the thin crescent Moon will be close to the M44 open cluster (also known as the Beehive or Praesepe Cluster) in the  Cancer constellation , offering an interesting opportunity for visual observation with binoculars or for astrophotography.