Mercury continues its excellent morning apparition that began in late November.  Here we see the winged messenger in eastern Libra, about ready to cross the border into Scorpius, an event that will occur three mornings from now.  Mercury has been slowly brightening, now shining at magnitude -0.49, which makes it brighter than all stars except for Sirius and Canopus.  Compare this scene of Mercury rising over the Rappahannock River to that of December 3.  Unannotated image.