Mercury
Mercury is currently in the constellation of Leo. The current Right Ascension of Mercury is 09h 32m 36s and the Declination is +16° 23’ 12” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current magnitude of Mercury is -1.94 (JPL).
Summary of key facts about Mercury [tip: you can also create a Quick Access page for this data if you access it frequently and would like to have a simpler view]:
- Mercury is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change].
- It is visible looking in the East direction at an altitude of 27° above the horizon.
- Given its current magnitude, Mercury is visible to the naked eye, easyly even from highly light polluted areas.
- See also Mercury rise and set times.
- 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.
Additional information about Mercury available on TheSkyLive:
Mercury Position and Finder Charts
Below we provide Mercury 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.
Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Mercury is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.
Also check out Where is Mercury?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Mercury in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
Mercury Distance from Earth
The distance of Mercury from Earth is currently 200,284,649 kilometers, equivalent to 1.338820 Astronomical Units. Light takes 11 minutes and 8.0777 seconds to travel from Mercury and arrive to us.
The following chart shows the distance of Mercury 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 Mercury from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Closest approach of Mercury to Earth
Between January 1900 and January 2100 the closest approach of Mercury to Earth happens on Sun May 31 2015 at a distance of 0.54903596 Astronomical Units, or 82,134,610 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
Mercury brightness
The current visual magnitude of Mercury is -1.94.
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 rise and set times
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London
Today's Mercury rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
The rise and set times are defined as the time at which the upper limb of Mercury touches the horizon, considering the effect of the atmospheric refraction. As the atmospheric conditions cannot be modeled precisely the times reported here should be considered correct with an approximation of few minutes.
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 |
Mercury 15 Days 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Aug 08 | 08h 31m 42s | +20° 02’ 42” | -1.36 | 5.4” | Cancer |
| 2020 Aug 09 | 08h 40m 05s | +19° 39’ 51” | -1.44 | 5.3” | Cancer |
| 2020 Aug 10 | 08h 48m 30s | +19° 14’ 31” | -1.51 | 5.3” | Cancer |
| 2020 Aug 11 | 08h 56m 56s | +18° 46’ 49” | -1.59 | 5.2” | Cancer |
| 2020 Aug 12 | 09h 05m 18s | +18° 16’ 50” | -1.67 | 5.2” | Cancer |
| 2020 Aug 13 | 09h 13m 38s | +17° 44’ 44” | -1.75 | 5.1” | Cancer |
| 2020 Aug 14 | 09h 21m 55s | +17° 10’ 41” | -1.84 | 5.1” | Cancer |
| 2020 Aug 15 | 09h 30m 05s | +16° 34’ 50” | -1.92 | 5.0” | Leo |
| 2020 Aug 16 | 09h 38m 09s | +15° 57’ 20” | -1.99 | 5.0” | Leo |
| 2020 Aug 17 | 09h 46m 08s | +15° 18’ 24” | -2.02 | 5.0” | Leo |
| 2020 Aug 18 | 09h 53m 58s | +14° 38’ 08” | -2.00 | 5.0” | Leo |
| 2020 Aug 19 | 10h 01m 42s | +13° 56’ 43” | -1.90 | 4.9” | Leo |
| 2020 Aug 20 | 10h 09m 19s | +13° 14’ 17” | -1.78 | 4.9” | Leo |
| 2020 Aug 21 | 10h 16m 46s | +12° 31’ 00” | -1.64 | 4.9” | Leo |