Mercury at greatest western elongation, 4 January 2031

Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation on 4 January 2031 around 19:43 UTC: it stands 22.9° 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 5 January 2031, 06:43 CET: the target stands 7° high in the south-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 (4 January 2031) 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).