Mercury
Mercury Position
Mercury is currently in the constellation of Capricornus. The current Right Ascension is 21h 21m 34s and the Declination is -17° 17’ 02”.
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 191,826,263 kilometers, equivalent to 1.282279 Astronomical Units. Light takes 10 minutes and 39.8635 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 0.54903598 Astronomical Units, or 82,134,613 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 -1.05.
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 Jan 20 | 20h 32m 21s | -20° 59’ 20” | -1.18 | 4.9” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 21 | 20h 39m 24s | -20° 32’ 33” | -1.16 | 4.9” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 22 | 20h 46m 26s | -20° 04’ 14” | -1.14 | 5.0” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 23 | 20h 53m 25s | -19° 34’ 24” | -1.12 | 5.0” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 24 | 21h 00m 21s | -19° 03’ 06” | -1.10 | 5.1” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 25 | 21h 07m 17s | -18° 30’ 20” | -1.08 | 5.1” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 26 | 21h 14m 08s | -17° 56’ 08” | -1.07 | 5.2” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 27 | 21h 20m 54s | -17° 20’ 34” | -1.05 | 5.2” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 28 | 21h 27m 38s | -16° 43’ 41” | -1.04 | 5.3” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 29 | 21h 34m 17s | -16° 05’ 35” | -1.03 | 5.4” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 30 | 21h 40m 50s | -15° 26’ 18” | -1.02 | 5.5” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 31 | 21h 47m 15s | -14° 46’ 00” | -1.01 | 5.5” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Feb 01 | 21h 53m 32s | -14° 04’ 49” | -1.00 | 5.6” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Feb 02 | 21h 59m 42s | -13° 22’ 51” | -0.99 | 5.7” | Aquarius |