On April 10 2020, the Mercury probe BepiColombo will fly past the Earth.
The Earth will provide a "gravity assist" and is the first of several flybys of the Earth, Venus and Mercury before it arrives in
Mercury orbit in 2025.
If you know where to look and live in the right part of the world, you will have a chance to see it through binoculars or a telescope.
You can use the two general charts below and the following table to get an idea of whether you will be able to see it or not.
Click on a table row to load a finder chart corresponding to that time, or alternatively, you can go straight to a finder chart for a time near closest approach by clicking here.
Note: All times in the tables and charts are given in your local time, adjusted for daylight savings where appropriate.
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| Flyby data |
| Time of closest approach | Apr 10, 04:24:57 |
| Distance of closest approach | 19,055 km |
| Speed at closest approach | 7.596 km/s |
| Speed at infinity (rel. to Earth) | 3.984 km/s |
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Position Table (click on a row of the table to load a finder chart)
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Time
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Distance
(km)
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Brightness
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Altitude
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Azimuth
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Right ascension
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Declination
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Constellation
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Sun altitude
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| Apr 9, 20:00:00 | 157,399 | 16.0 | -42.1° | 286.9° | 0h 19.6m | 12° 22' | Pisces | -29.3° | | Apr 9, 20:30:00 | 149,903 | 15.8 | -49.8° | 289.2° | 0h 17.6m | 12° 7' | Pisces | -36.7° | | Apr 9, 21:00:00 | 142,277 | 15.7 | -57.4° | 292.6° | 0h 15.6m | 11° 51' | Pisces | -44.1° | | Apr 9, 21:30:00 | 134,504 | 15.5 | -64.8° | 298.3° | 0h 13.4m | 11° 33' | Pisces | -51.4° | | Apr 9, 22:00:00 | 126,571 | 15.4 | -71.7° | 308.9° | 0h 11.0m | 11° 13' | Pisces | -58.7° | | Apr 9, 22:30:00 | 118,464 | 15.2 | -77.4° | 330.8° | 0h 8.3m | 10° 52' | Pisces | -65.9° | | Apr 9, 23:00:00 | 110,170 | 15.0 | -79.2° | 10.9° | 0h 5.3m | 10° 27' | Pisces | -72.7° | | Apr 9, 23:30:00 | 101,677 | 14.8 | -75.5° | 45.6° | 0h 1.7m | 9° 59' | Pisces | -78.8° | | Apr 10, 00:00:00 | 92,971 | 14.5 | -68.8° | 62.7° | 23h 57.5m | 9° 27' | Pisces | -81.9° | | Apr 10, 00:30:00 | 84,039 | 14.2 | -60.9° | 71.5° | 23h 52.4m | 8° 47' | Pegasus | -79.2° | | Apr 10, 01:00:00 | 74,866 | 13.9 | -52.2° | 76.7° | 23h 45.8m | 7° 59' | Pisces | -73.3° | | Apr 10, 01:30:00 | 65,439 | 13.5 | -42.9° | 80.3° | 23h 37.3m | 6° 57' | Pisces | -66.5° | | Apr 10, 02:00:00 | 55,741 | 13.0 | -32.7° | 83.3° | 23h 25.7m | 5° 33' | Pisces | -59.3° | | Apr 10, 02:30:00 | 45,765 | 12.4 | -21.2° | 86.1° | 23h 9.0m | 3° 31' | Pisces | -52.1° | | Apr 10, 03:00:00 | 35,542 | 11.7 | -7.2° | 89.6° | 22h 42.8m | 0° 19' | Aquarius | -44.8° | | Apr 10, 03:30:00 | 25,288 | 10.6 | 12.0° | 95.5° | 21h 56.2m | -5° 29' | Aquarius | -37.4° | | Apr 10, 04:00:00 | 16,210 | 9.2 | 43.1° | 114.1° | 20h 11.5m | -17° 24' | Capricornus | -30.0° | | Apr 10, 04:30:00 | 13,658 | 8.2 | 53.0° | 216.4° | 16h 8.0m | -28° 53' | Scorpius | -22.6° | | Apr 10, 05:00:00 | 20,710 | 8.9 | 11.6° | 249.0° | 13h 4.1m | -20° 27' | Virgo | -15.2° | | Apr 10, 05:30:00 | 30,679 | - | -12.9° | 256.2° | 11h 51.5m | -13° 20' | Crater | -7.7° | | Apr 10, 06:00:00 | 40,878 | 10.5 | -29.3° | 259.3° | 11h 15.7m | -9° 14' | Crater | -0.3° | | Apr 10, 06:30:00 | 50,839 | 11.0 | -42.3° | 260.9° | 10h 54.3m | -6° 39' | Leo | 7.1° | | Apr 10, 07:00:00 | 60,491 | 11.4 | -53.4° | 261.6° | 10h 40.0m | -4° 52' | Sextans | 14.5° | | Apr 10, 07:30:00 | 69,842 | 11.8 | -63.6° | 261.8° | 10h 29.8m | -3° 33' | Sextans | 21.9° | | Apr 10, 08:00:00 | 78,910 | 12.0 | -73.0° | 260.9° | 10h 22.1m | -2° 33' | Sextans | 29.4° | | Apr 10, 08:30:00 | 87,718 | 12.3 | -82.1° | 256.5° | 10h 16.0m | -1° 45' | Sextans | 36.7° | | Apr 10, 09:00:00 | 96,285 | 12.5 | -88.4° | 139.2° | 10h 11.1m | -1° 6' | Sextans | 44.1° | | Apr 10, 09:30:00 | 104,630 | 12.7 | -80.4° | 93.9° | 10h 6.9m | -0° 33' | Sextans | 51.4° | | Apr 10, 10:00:00 | 112,771 | 12.9 | -72.0° | 90.6° | 10h 3.3m | -0° 5' | Sextans | 58.7° | | Apr 10, 10:30:00 | 120,724 | 13.0 | -63.7° | 89.5° | 10h 0.2m | 0° 19' | Sextans | 65.8° | | Apr 10, 11:00:00 | 128,506 | 13.2 | -55.5° | 89.0° | 9h 57.3m | 0° 41' | Sextans | 72.7° | | Apr 10, 11:30:00 | 136,136 | 13.3 | -47.3° | 88.7° | 9h 54.7m | 1° 0' | Sextans | 78.7° | | Apr 10, 12:00:00 | 143,631 | 13.4 | -39.1° | 88.5° | 9h 52.2m | 1° 17' | Sextans | 81.8° |
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