Mercury at greatest western elongation, 17 October 2028

Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation on 17 October 2028 around 22:54 UTC: it stands 18.2° from the Sun in the morning sky. This is the best time to observe it, because it is as far from the Sun as it gets before sunrise.

Visibility from Hungary (calculated for Budapest): the best moment to observe is 18 October 2028, 06:24 CEST: the target stands 10° high in the east, 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 (17 October 2028) 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).