The two innermost planets are now visible in Virgo before the Sun rises, standing close to two of the Maiden’s stars.

| Published: November 14, 2026

Mercury has made it into the morning sky, shining in the hour before dawn just below and to the left of Venus and Spica in Virgo. Look also for the fainter star Kappa Virginis, just north of Mercury. Credit: Stellarium

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November 13: Spot Mirach’s Ghost

Following inferior conjunction early this month, Mercury has reappeared in the morning sky. Now magnitude 0.3, you can find the small planet some 5° above the eastern horizon an hour before sunrise. It lies to the lower left of brighter Venus (magnitude –4.8), which sits alongside Virgo’s luminary Spica, about 12° to Mercury’s west.

This morning, Mercury is less than 1° south of 4th-magnitude Kappa (κ) Virginis, which should be visible until the sky brightens enough to wash out the star.…