Mercury at greatest eastern elongation, 12 October 2026

Mercury reaches its greatest eastern elongation on 12 October 2026 around 09:53 UTC: it stands 25.2° from the Sun in the evening sky. This is the best time to observe it, because it is as far from the Sun as it gets after sunset.

Visibility from Hungary (calculated for Budapest): the best moment to observe is 12 October 2026, 18:23 CEST: the target stands 2° high in the south-west, in twilight, the sky is not fully dark yet. The calculation is for Budapest; elsewhere in the country rise and set times differ by only a few minutes.

In the page's interactive 3D model the time machine jumps to this moment (12 October 2026) and the camera takes the view that fits the event: a sky view from the visitor's city or Budapest. You can freely scrub time forwards and backwards.

Planet positions come from our own approximate calculation (about 0.1-1° accuracy, times within a few hours).