Mercury continues its long evening apparition by moving eastward through Virgo, at the same time it gradually drifts south of the ecliptic.  On this date, Mercury is magnitude -0.05 and slowly fading even as its elongation from the Sun is still increasing (24° 21' this evening).  Venus, which was visible with Mercury four days ago, is now no longer visible at this time that we are observing the innermost planet.   Unannotated image.