Mercury
Mercury Sky Charts and Coordinates
This is a simplified sky chart, showing where Mercury is now with respect to the brightest stars and constellations.
More advanced sky charts are available on TheSkyLive for this object: 1) the Online Planetarium which is interactive and allows to select dates and additional objects to visualize; and 2) the Live Position and Data Tracker which provides the highest precision position data and features deep sky imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey.
High Precision Live Sky Chart
Mercury Rise and Set Times
Today's Mercury rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]. All times are relative to the local timezone Europe/London.
Mercury Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of Mercury computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Mercury in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Apparent DiameterDiameter | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 Aug 10 | 09h 06m 08s | +11° 40’ 47” | 5.25 | 11.0” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 11 | 09h 03m 21s | +12° 01’ 05” | 4.99 | 10.9” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 12 | 09h 00m 46s | +12° 22’ 09” | 4.61 | 10.8” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 13 | 08h 58m 23s | +12° 43’ 42” | 4.17 | 10.6” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 14 | 08h 56m 20s | +13° 05’ 25” | 3.73 | 10.4” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 15 | 08h 54m 36s | +13° 26’ 57” | 3.28 | 10.2” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 16 | 08h 53m 14s | +13° 48’ 00” | 2.85 | 10.0” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 17 | 08h 52m 18s | +14° 08’ 14” | 2.44 | 9.7” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 18 | 08h 51m 50s | +14° 27’ 25” | 2.06 | 9.5” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 19 | 08h 51m 50s | +14° 45’ 16” | 1.70 | 9.3” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 20 | 08h 52m 18s | +15° 01’ 31” | 1.37 | 9.0” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 21 | 08h 53m 17s | +15° 15’ 55” | 1.07 | 8.7” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 22 | 08h 54m 47s | +15° 28’ 15” | 0.79 | 8.5” | Cancer |
| 2018 Aug 23 | 08h 56m 48s | +15° 38’ 21” | 0.53 | 8.2” | Cancer |
Distance of Mercury from Earth
The following chart shows the distance of Mercury from Earth as a function of time. Distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with a 2 days interval.
The reported distances might be inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of Mercury is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Light Curve of Mercury
The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Mercury, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.
Mercury Physical Data
The following shows the known values of the most important physical parameters of Mercury. Source: JPL Small-Body Database
| Physical Parameter | Value | Relative to Earth |
|---|---|---|
| Diameter | 4879.4 km | 0.3829 |
| Mass | 0.330104 x 1024 kg | 0.0553 |
| Density | 5.427 gr/cm3 | 0.9843 |
| Escape Velocity | 4.25 km/s | 0.3798 |
| Sideral Rotation | 1,407.5088 hours | 58.8068 |
| Absolute Magnitude | -0.6 | |
| Geometric Albedo | 0.106 | |