Oh, there was a spell that would help?? Ashley... well, he really liked spells. So he was happy to get to practicing the charm, with a swish and tap of his wand in the air as he said the words, "lens focalis", a few times to get the rhythm right.
Once he felt he had it down, he tried it on his telescope, swish and tap, "lens focalis", instantly peering in to see if anything had changed.
He still didn't know exactly where to look, even if what he was seeing had been improved greatly. Silvery. Supposed to be visible close to sunrise. At least that made it a little easier. He knew where the sun was supposed to be coming from, so he could start by gazing over in that direction. Now to find silvery, whitish, brownish.
Looking around, he thought about attempting to find another planet first, as suggested, but that just sounded like it would mix him up. So he continued to look, moving the telescope slowly until he came across something that juuuuuuust might be it. Hopefully.
He made a couple of mental notes to write down later, then went back to watching what he had found, to see if it matched enough characteristics to actually be Mercury.