BepiColombo reaches Mercury on 21 November, the morning Mercury is easiest to see
On Saturday 21 November 2026, ESA and JAXA’s BepiColombo is due to be captured into a polar orbit around Mercury, eight years and one month after launch. By chance, the date is also Mercury’s greatest western elongation, its widest angle from the Sun in this morning apparition. JPL’s Horizons ephemeris puts the peak at 19.6° around 00:00 UT on the 21st. From Cyprus and the rest of the northern mid-latitudes, that makes this the easiest week of the year to find the planet before sunrise. ...