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 | MagnitudeMag | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 Apr 15 | 1.66 | 00h 17m 25s | +01° 21’ 34” | Pisces |
| 2018 Apr 16 | 1.49 | 00h 17m 49s | +01° 08’ 43” | Pisces |
| 2018 Apr 17 | 1.34 | 00h 18m 32s | +00° 58’ 27” | Pisces |
| 2018 Apr 18 | 1.21 | 00h 19m 32s | +00° 50’ 49” | Pisces |
| 2018 Apr 19 | 1.09 | 00h 20m 48s | +00° 45’ 47” | Pisces |
| 2018 Apr 20 | 0.98 | 00h 22m 22s | +00° 43’ 14” | Pisces |
| 2018 Apr 21 | 0.88 | 00h 24m 11s | +00° 43’ 09” | Pisces |
| 2018 Apr 22 | 0.80 | 00h 26m 13s | +00° 45’ 26” | Pisces |
| 2018 Apr 23 | 0.72 | 00h 28m 31s | +00° 50’ 03” | Cetus |
| 2018 Apr 24 | 0.65 | 00h 31m 01s | +00° 56’ 53” | Cetus |
| 2018 Apr 25 | 0.59 | 00h 33m 44s | +01° 05’ 53” | Cetus |
| 2018 Apr 26 | 0.53 | 00h 36m 41s | +01° 16’ 58” | Cetus |
| 2018 Apr 27 | 0.47 | 00h 39m 48s | +01° 30’ 02” | Cetus |
| 2018 Apr 28 | 0.42 | 00h 43m 08s | +01° 45’ 00” | Cetus |
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 | |