Mercury
Mercury Position
Mercury is currently in the constellation of Aquarius. The current Right Ascension is 23h 24m 22s and the Declination is -06° 24’ 08”.
Simplified sky chart showing where Mercury is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars and constellations (see full screen Online Planetarium)
Higher precision deep sky finder chart showing where Mercury is right now (view fullscreen)
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
The distance of Mercury from Earth is currently 159,030,500 kilometers, equivalent to 1.063053 Astronomical Units. Light takes 8 minutes and 50.4686 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 2013 and December 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 -0.04.
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 Mar 28 | 22h 49m 12s | -09° 24’ 53” | 0.08 | 7.0” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Mar 29 | 22h 53m 45s | -09° 04’ 04” | 0.07 | 6.9” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Mar 30 | 22h 58m 27s | -08° 41’ 47” | 0.05 | 6.8” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Mar 31 | 23h 03m 15s | -08° 18’ 05” | 0.03 | 6.7” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Apr 01 | 23h 08m 08s | -07° 53’ 00” | 0.02 | 6.6” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Apr 02 | 23h 13m 06s | -07° 26’ 35” | 0.00 | 6.5” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Apr 03 | 23h 18m 11s | -06° 58’ 51” | -0.02 | 6.4” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Apr 04 | 23h 23m 21s | -06° 29’ 50” | -0.04 | 6.3” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Apr 05 | 23h 28m 36s | -05° 59’ 32” | -0.06 | 6.3” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Apr 06 | 23h 33m 56s | -05° 28’ 01” | -0.08 | 6.2” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Apr 07 | 23h 39m 21s | -04° 55’ 18” | -0.11 | 6.1” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Apr 08 | 23h 44m 52s | -04° 21’ 21” | -0.13 | 6.0” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Apr 09 | 23h 50m 26s | -03° 46’ 17” | -0.16 | 6.0” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Apr 10 | 23h 56m 05s | -03° 10’ 02” | -0.19 | 5.9” | Pisces |