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ObserveTheSky › Everything in the sky › Mercury

Where is Mercury in the sky?

You can find this one with your own eyes.

How to find Mercury

Look low in the west just after sunset, or low in the east just before sunrise, during the few weeks a year when it stands furthest from the Sun. It is never seen in a fully dark sky, and never high.

Your own sky, right now.

Open in the Planetarium

When can I see Mercury?

It moves against the stars, so there is no one season for it — when it is up depends on the date.

What the shading meansClose

This is the Earth. Where the globe is clear, this object climbs high in the sky; the darker the shading, the lower it stays; where the globe is black, it never rises at all. If the globe has no shading, it does not matter where on Earth you are.

Mercury month by month

The heights below are degrees above the horizon (a fist at arm’s length is about 10), seen from about 50° north — the middle of Europe. Which constellation it is in is the same wherever you are standing.

MonthWhere to lookWhenHow high
October 2026LibraNot up in a dark sky—
November 2026VirgoBefore dawn4°
December 2026OphiuchusNot up in a dark sky—
January 2027CapricornusNot up in a dark sky—
February 2027AquariusNot up in a dark sky—
March 2027CapricornusNot up in a dark sky—
April 2027PiscesNot up in a dark sky—
May 2027TaurusEvening3°
June 2027GeminiNot up in a dark sky—
July 2027OrionBefore dawn1°
August 2027LeoNot up in a dark sky—
September 2027VirgoNot up in a dark sky—
October 2027VirgoNot up in a dark sky—
November 2027LibraBefore dawn2°
December 2027OphiuchusNot up in a dark sky—
January 2028CapricornusNot up in a dark sky—
February 2028CapricornusNot up in a dark sky—
March 2028AquariusNot up in a dark sky—
April 2028AriesNot up in a dark sky—
May 2028TaurusEvening4°
June 2028TaurusNot up in a dark sky—
July 2028GeminiNot up in a dark sky—
August 2028LeoNot up in a dark sky—
September 2028VirgoNot up in a dark sky—
October 2028VirgoBefore dawn2°

Heights marked in orange are under 10° — above the horizon, but down in the murk over the rooftops. You would need a clear, flat view that way.

What Mercury looks like in different instruments

With your own eyes

A shy spark very low in the twilight — you only ever catch it just after sunset or before sunrise.

Through a small telescope (a 150 mm Dobsonian)

A tiny, part-lit “mini-Moon” — far too small to show any markings.

Mercury at 200× through a 150 mm telescope200×
🔭 See it drawn as it looks through a telescope
Show Mercury in the model📖 More details about Mercury🕒 When can I see Mercury?🌙 Plan an evening outside