m2 on mercury tonight?

[Shep]

Ok, so to be honest i almost feel embarrassed posting astro questions here because i feel like such a numptie with it still but i made some notes in my diary of upcoming things and and i had one for today about the m2 on mercury at 9.30pm tonight. I've looked over the internet (probably not well enough though) and i dont see much mention of what it is to look for (most things came up about mercury boat motors i think lol) I puched it into my Sky edition software (which i'm still learning to) and the best ive come up with it to go look WSW for it. I just tried to spot it with my naked eye but there a lone big cloud just over the spot at the moment.

[Liz]

Hey Shep ... have been checking out Mercuryfor the last week, and even took some pics last night. It is very low in the West, and gone by about 8pm (our time) if not earlier.
Have you got Stellarium? It is a great free program -you pop in Cairns in the location and it will show you what you can see.
Mercury is in Saggitarius but well and truly gone by ... after 8pm.
Mercury is the brightest object in the SW (where Sun sets at moment) from when its dark - have a look tomorrow night.

[Shep]

Hmmm .... yeah i wondered that because on my skyx software it showed mercury as havng set by 9.30pm too, i made notes because it was so late in the year i didnt think it was worth buying the sky guide for 09 still and thought id just wait and buy next years instead, so just made notes of things to look for and of course notes that i made in my diary 6 weeks ago just stump me now . Thanks for replying, i will check out stellarium as well

If anyones got the Australian Skyguide 2009 would love you to look up and clarify what it said about it for me!