BepiColombo
BepiColombo is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to study Mercury, the smallest and least explored planet in our solar system. The mission consists of two spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) built by the ESA, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) built by JAXA. The spacecraft were launched on October 20, 2018, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. The primary scientific objectives of the mission are to study Mercury's magnetic field, its composition, the geology of its surface, and its interaction with the solar wind. The mission will also investigate the planet's exosphere and study its geological history. BepiColombo is expected to arrive at Mercury in December 2025, after several gravity assist flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury itself.
BepiColombo is currently in the constellation of Aries, at a distance of 197,163,193 kilometers from Earth.
View interactive star map
Today's rise, transit and set times of BepiColombo from Greenwich, United Kingdom (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
- BepiColombo is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom.
- Go to interactive sky chart
If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.
Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where BepiColombo is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.
Also check out Where is BepiColombo?, a page that provides all the information needed to find BepiColombo in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
BepiColombo Distance from Earth
The distance of BepiColombo from Earth is currently 197,163,193 kilometers, equivalent to 1.317955 Astronomical Units. Light takes 10 minutes and 57.6656 seconds to travel from BepiColombo and arrive to us.
The following chart shows the distance of BepiColombo from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.
The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of BepiColombo from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Closest Approach of BepiColombo to Earth
Between 21 October 2018 and 26 March 2026, the closest approach of BepiColombo to Earth happens on Fri Apr 10 2020 at a distance of 0.000582 Astronomical Units, or 87,050 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
Visualization of BepiColombo Orbit
This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of BepiColombo with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of BepiColombo and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configuration of the objects in the Solar System. This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!
BepiColombo 15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of BepiColombo computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate BepiColombo in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 May 10 | 02h 14m 35s | +12° 01’ 46” | N.A. | Aries |
| 2024 May 11 | 02h 22m 08s | +12° 47’ 53” | N.A. | Aries |
| 2024 May 12 | 02h 29m 51s | +13° 34’ 00” | N.A. | Aries |
| 2024 May 13 | 02h 37m 42s | +14° 19’ 59” | N.A. | Aries |
| 2024 May 14 | 02h 45m 45s | +15° 05’ 43” | N.A. | Aries |
| 2024 May 15 | 02h 53m 57s | +15° 51’ 03” | N.A. | Aries |
| 2024 May 16 | 03h 02m 21s | +16° 35’ 51” | N.A. | Aries |
| 2024 May 17 | 03h 10m 54s | +17° 19’ 55” | N.A. | Aries |
| 2024 May 18 | 03h 19m 36s | +18° 03’ 06” | N.A. | Aries |
| 2024 May 19 | 03h 28m 27s | +18° 45’ 11” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2024 May 20 | 03h 37m 28s | +19° 25’ 58” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2024 May 21 | 03h 46m 37s | +20° 05’ 12” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2024 May 22 | 03h 55m 54s | +20° 42’ 43” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2024 May 23 | 04h 05m 15s | +21° 18’ 16” | N.A. | Taurus |