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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 7:10 
Transit: 12:13 
Sunset: 17:18
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Space Probes » 

BepiColombo

Above the horizon.  Rise: 7:40 | Tran: 12:50 | Set: 18:02
Alt: 23.35°   Az: 146.67°   Direction: South-South-East

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 in the constellation of Aquarius, at a distance of 189,976,874.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 22h 41m 14s and the Declination is -09° 38’ 48” (apparent coordinates).

Finder Charts

Map showing BepiColombo in Aquarius on February, 17 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing BepiColombo in Aquarius on February, 17 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High 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.

BepiColombo
RA: 22h 39m 55s
Dec: -09° 46’ 42”
Deep sky finder chart for BepiColombo. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

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.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

22h 41m 14s
-09° 38’ 48”
21h 56m 53s
20h 38m 08s

J2000

22h 39m 55s
-09° 46’ 42”

Additional Information

Aquarius

Rise and Set Times

Today's rise, transit and set times of BepiColombo from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 99.8°
Max altitude: 28.9°
Azimuth: 260.6°
  • BepiColombo is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the South-South-East direction at an altitude of 23.35° above the horizon.
  • 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.

Distance from Earth

The distance of BepiColombo from Earth is currently 189,976,874.0 kilometers, equivalent to 1.2699169655 Astronomical Units. Light takes 10m 33.695s to travel from BepiColombo and arrive to us.

189,976,874.0
1.2699169655
10m 33.695s

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.

Chart of the distance of BepiColombo from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

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

Between 21 October 2018 and 5 April 2027, 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:

Fri Apr 10 2020
87,050
0.000582

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Orbit Visualization

Orbit Diagram of 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. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2025 Feb 10 21h 48m 01s -15° 16’ 49” N.A. Capricornus
2025 Feb 11 21h 55m 14s -14° 35’ 56” N.A. Capricornus
2025 Feb 12 22h 02m 28s -13° 53’ 33” N.A. Aquarius
2025 Feb 13 22h 09m 41s -13° 09’ 43” N.A. Aquarius
2025 Feb 14 22h 16m 51s -12° 24’ 29” N.A. Aquarius
2025 Feb 15 22h 23m 59s -11° 37’ 55” N.A. Aquarius
2025 Feb 16 22h 31m 04s -10° 50’ 07” N.A. Aquarius
2025 Feb 17 22h 38m 06s -10° 01’ 09” N.A. Aquarius
2025 Feb 18 22h 45m 04s -09° 11’ 11” N.A. Aquarius
2025 Feb 19 22h 51m 57s -08° 20’ 20” N.A. Aquarius
2025 Feb 20 22h 58m 44s -07° 28’ 46” N.A. Aquarius
2025 Feb 21 23h 05m 24s -06° 36’ 40” N.A. Aquarius
2025 Feb 22 23h 11m 56s -05° 44’ 16” N.A. Aquarius
2025 Feb 23 23h 18m 19s -04° 51’ 48” N.A. Aquarius

Additional Resources