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A Complete Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky
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public Observing fromLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
north SunriseRise: 7:41  
clear_day Transit: 11:47  
SunsetSet: 15:53 south
sleep NighttimeWhat's Visible Now?
Space Probes » 

BepiColombo

Altitude: -35.5°   Azimuth: 280.5°   Direction: West

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 Scorpius.

The current Right Ascension of BepiColombo is 16h 09m 05s and the Declination is -21° 15’ 00” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt).

16h 09m 05s
-21° 15’ 00”
Scorpius

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

Azimuth: 111.1°
Max altitude: 17.4°
Azimuth: 248.8°

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.

Available Resources

BepiColombo Position and Finder Charts

Below we provide BepiColombo finder charts showing where the object is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars. The first finder chart has a field of view of 50 degrees, while the second one has a field of view of 10 degrees. Click on each finder chart to access a full screen interactive Online Planetarium.

Finder chart of BepiColombo in Scorpius on December,01 2023
Map showing BepiColombo in Scorpius on December, 01 2023
Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View fullscreen
Finder chart of BepiColombo
Map showing BepiColombo in Scorpius on December, 01 2023
Field of view: 10x6 degrees
View fullscreen

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.

BepiColombo
RA: 16h 09m 05s
Dec: -21° 15’ 00”
Deep sky finder chart for BepiColombo
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins
View fullscreen

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 233,946,731 kilometers, equivalent to 1.563837 Astronomical Units. Light takes 13 minutes and 0.3623 seconds to travel from BepiColombo and arrive to us.

233,946,731
1.563837
13 minutes and 0.3623 seconds

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 of BepiColombo to Earth

Between 21 October 2018 and 31 October 2025, 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.

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!

Orbit Diagram of BepiColombo

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
2023 Nov 24 15h 27m 02s -18° 29’ 05” N.A. Libra
2023 Nov 25 15h 32m 23s -18° 52’ 35” N.A. Libra
2023 Nov 26 15h 37m 45s -19° 15’ 24” N.A. Libra
2023 Nov 27 15h 43m 05s -19° 37’ 35” N.A. Libra
2023 Nov 28 15h 48m 29s -19° 59’ 05” N.A. Libra
2023 Nov 29 15h 53m 52s -20° 19’ 56” N.A. Libra
2023 Nov 30 15h 59m 16s -20° 40’ 06” N.A. Scorpius
2023 Dec 01 16h 04m 41s -20° 59’ 36” N.A. Scorpius
2023 Dec 02 16h 10m 06s -21° 18’ 24” N.A. Scorpius
2023 Dec 03 16h 15m 33s -21° 36’ 29” N.A. Scorpius
2023 Dec 04 16h 21m 01s -21° 53’ 53” N.A. Scorpius
2023 Dec 05 16h 26m 30s -22° 10’ 35” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Dec 06 16h 31m 59s -22° 26’ 31” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Dec 07 16h 37m 32s -22° 41’ 44” N.A. Ophiucus