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 Europe/London timezone.
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 | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Apparent DiameterDiameter | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Feb 16 | 22h 46m 21s | -08° 44’ 08” | -1.13 | 5.6” | Aquarius |
| 2019 Feb 17 | 22h 52m 37s | -07° 55’ 10” | -1.10 | 5.7” | Aquarius |
| 2019 Feb 18 | 22h 58m 45s | -07° 05’ 56” | -1.08 | 5.8” | Aquarius |
| 2019 Feb 19 | 23h 04m 44s | -06° 16’ 37” | -1.05 | 5.9” | Aquarius |
| 2019 Feb 20 | 23h 10m 30s | -05° 27’ 32” | -1.02 | 6.0” | Aquarius |
| 2019 Feb 21 | 23h 16m 01s | -04° 38’ 54” | -0.99 | 6.1” | Aquarius |
| 2019 Feb 22 | 23h 21m 19s | -03° 51’ 06” | -0.94 | 6.3” | Aquarius |
| 2019 Feb 23 | 23h 26m 17s | -03° 04’ 23” | -0.89 | 6.5” | Pisces |
| 2019 Feb 24 | 23h 30m 56s | -02° 19’ 09” | -0.82 | 6.6” | Pisces |
| 2019 Feb 25 | 23h 35m 14s | -01° 35’ 47” | -0.74 | 6.8” | Pisces |
| 2019 Feb 26 | 23h 39m 10s | -00° 54’ 37” | -0.64 | 7.0” | Pisces |
| 2019 Feb 27 | 23h 42m 38s | -00° 16’ 01” | -0.52 | 7.2” | Pisces |
| 2019 Feb 28 | 23h 45m 39s | +00° 19’ 33” | -0.37 | 7.4” | Pisces |
| 2019 Mar 01 | 23h 48m 11s | +00° 51’ 51” | -0.19 | 7.7” | Pisces |
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 |