Mercury – Facts and Information about the Planet Mercury

As November begins, Mercury will be in the western evening sky and swinging sunward towards inferior conjunction on November 11, when the speedy planet will transit the sun. The transit will be visible in whole or in part from westernmost Russia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, South America, North America (except for the extreme north), most of the Pacific Ocean, and New Zealand. After mid-month, Mercury will return to view with an excellent morning apparition for Northern Hemisphere observers, but a poor one for the Southern Hemisphere. The planet will reach peak visibility at greatest western elongation on November 28. Viewed in a telescope during mornings in November, Mercury's disk will diminish in apparent size and wax in illuminated phase from a thin crescent to a 68% full. Over the same period, the planet will brighten. The old crescent moon will pass north of Mercury on November 24-25.

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The European Space Agency released this animation of the BepiColombo spacecraft's final view of Earth, captured on April 10 and April 11, 2020.

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An animation of images captured by cameras on the BepiColombo spacecraft shortly before its closest approach to Earth, on April 10, 2020.

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An artist's depiction of the BepiColombo spacecraft flying past Earth.

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BepiColombo captured its first Earth flyby images on April 9, 2020.

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Earth and the moon as seen by BepiColombo on March 5, 2020, as the mission began preparing for its flyby of Earth.

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A colorful view of Mercury produced from images taken by the MESSENGER spacecraft.

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An artist's visualization of BepiColombo's flyby of Earth.

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Balanchine crater on Mercury is visible at the center of this image taken by NASA's MESSENGER mission.

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Former journalist Martin Evans (right) chats with two fellow guests of the Amateur Astronomers Association (AAA) gathering on Monday, Nov. 11, 2019, in Floyd Bennett Field, New York. Peering through the Orion EZ Finder II telescope is a mother who brought her children to the viewing event; standing to the left is amateur astronomer Stephen Lieber.

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The Mercury transit of Nov. 11, 2019, as seen from Turkey's Van province.

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Mercury transits the sun, as seen behind the Washington Monument, on Nov. 11, 2019.

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Instruments onboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory study the sun in a range of different wavelengths to learn more about the star. This image of the transit of Mercury was captured by the satellite's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly instrument.

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Mercury transited the sun on Nov. 11, 2019, as seen from Washington, D.C.

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