2000 to 2015

calculated by Mercury Chaser's Calculator and Venus Elongation Explorer

Compare also with my applets:
Planets, Planetary Motion

Eastern elongations (evening apparition) negative,
western elongations (morning apparition) positive:

From 2000 to 2015 western elongations range between 17.9° and 27.8° (mean 22.6°),
eastern elongations are between -18.1° and -27.4° (mean -22.6°).

The difference of elongations is due to the large excentricity of Mercury's orbit (e=0.206), exaggerated in the figure above. Using the value of the major semiaxis for Mercury (a=0.387 AU) and for the Earth (1 AU), the elongation angles can easily be computed: sin α = a*(1-e)/(1 AU) = 0.307, α = 17.9° sin β = a*(1+e)/(1 AU)= 0.467, β = 27.8° Greatest elongations>=26.9° until 2015: 2006 Apr 08 Morning 27.8°W +0.6 2007 Mar 22 Morning 27.7°W +0.5 2008 Mar 03 Morning 27.1°W +0.3 2008 Sep 11 Evening 26.9°E +0.4 2009 Aug 24 Evening 27.4°E +0.5 2010 Aug 07 Evening 27.4°E +0.6 2012 Apr 18 Morning 27.5°W +0.6 2013 Mar 31 Morning 27.8°W +0.5 2014 Mar 14 Morning 27.6°W +0.4 2015 Sep 04 Evening 27.1°E +0.5

  Western elongations range between 45.8° and 47.0°,
eastern elongations range between -45.4° and -47.1°.

Overlay of Mercury and Venus:

J. Giesen

2006, Feb 19