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 Aug 12 | 1.19 | 10h 45m 27s | +03° 49’ 23” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 13 | 1.32 | 10h 45m 23s | +03° 39’ 02” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 14 | 1.48 | 10h 44m 58s | +03° 31’ 18” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 15 | 1.66 | 10h 44m 17s | +03° 26’ 20” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 16 | 1.86 | 10h 43m 14s | +03° 24’ 15” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 17 | 2.08 | 10h 41m 53s | +03° 25’ 14” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 18 | 2.34 | 10h 40m 14s | +03° 29’ 18” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 19 | 2.62 | 10h 38m 17s | +03° 36’ 34” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 20 | 2.94 | 10h 36m 02s | +03° 47’ 04” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 21 | 3.29 | 10h 33m 32s | +04° 00’ 45” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 22 | 3.68 | 10h 30m 47s | +04° 17’ 30” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 23 | 4.09 | 10h 27m 51s | +04° 37’ 14” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 24 | 4.52 | 10h 24m 47s | +04° 59’ 40” | Sextans |
| 2017 Aug 25 | 4.94 | 10h 21m 38s | +05° 24’ 33” | Sextans |
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 | |