Mercury at greatest eastern elongation, 18 March 2031

Mercury reaches its greatest eastern elongation on 18 March 2031 around 12:01 UTC: it stands 18.5° 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 18 March 2031, 18:31 CET: the target stands 10° high in the 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 (18 March 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).