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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 Oct 11 | -1.52 | 13h 12m 11s | -06° 40’ 57” | Virgo |
| 2017 Oct 12 | -1.43 | 13h 18m 23s | -07° 25’ 09” | Virgo |
| 2017 Oct 13 | -1.34 | 13h 24m 33s | -08° 08’ 53” | Virgo |
| 2017 Oct 14 | -1.25 | 13h 30m 41s | -08° 52’ 02” | Virgo |
| 2017 Oct 15 | -1.17 | 13h 36m 48s | -09° 34’ 39” | Virgo |
| 2017 Oct 16 | -1.10 | 13h 42m 55s | -10° 16’ 38” | Virgo |
| 2017 Oct 17 | -1.03 | 13h 49m 00s | -10° 58’ 01” | Virgo |
| 2017 Oct 18 | -0.96 | 13h 55m 04s | -11° 38’ 44” | Virgo |
| 2017 Oct 19 | -0.90 | 14h 01m 06s | -12° 18’ 47” | Virgo |
| 2017 Oct 20 | -0.84 | 14h 07m 09s | -12° 58’ 08” | Virgo |
| 2017 Oct 21 | -0.79 | 14h 13m 12s | -13° 36’ 45” | Virgo |
| 2017 Oct 22 | -0.74 | 14h 19m 14s | -14° 14’ 36” | Virgo |
| 2017 Oct 23 | -0.69 | 14h 25m 15s | -14° 51’ 43” | Libra |
| 2017 Oct 24 | -0.65 | 14h 31m 17s | -15° 28’ 02” | Libra |
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 | |