This morning I was lucky and could observe the planet party from the Río Hurtado valley in Chile. The Andes Mountains can be seen in the background (below Mercury). It features peaks more than 4100 meters high. When I took the picture, Mercury had already reached 11°. However, it crosses the mountain range only at an altitude of 9°. This means that I have only a small window of opportunity to catch Mercury along with the other planets before it disappears in the morning twilight. This was my third attempt, and this time the weather played along.