You can see Mercury at its farthest point east of the Sun on October 12 2026

On October 12 2026, look west after sunset; the best time to see Mercury is about 30 to 60 minutes later, when it appears above the horizon in twilight.

Astronomy Magazine and Starwalk listed Mercury’s magnitude at 0.0, whereas EarthSky gave it as roughly –0.1. According to Astronomy Magazine, Mercury’s apparent diameter measured 7 arcseconds; EarthSky gave 6.75 arcseconds. According to Astronomy Magazine and EarthSky, Mercury showed roughly 60% illumination through a telescope. According to Astronomy Magazine and EarthSky, the Moon showed a waxing crescent phase and about 6% illumination.

Mercury lay about 3.5° upper right of the waxing crescent Moon. At 40° N, 90° W, Mercury was 4.5° above the horizon twenty minutes after sunset. Mercury would set just after 7 p.m. local daylight time. At 40° N, 90° W, the Sun rose at 7:08 a.m. and set at 6:25 p.m., while the Moon rose at 9:20 a.m. and set at 7:08 p.m.

According to EarthSky and Starwalk, if you are in the Southern Hemisphere you will enjoy the best evening view of Mercury in October 2026; if you are at mid‑northern latitudes you will see it low due to a shallow ecliptic angle. According to EarthSky, when Mercury was at 25° elongation, its distance from the Sun approached the maximum of about 28°. According to Starwalk, on October 12 2026 at 06:02 EDT (10:02 GMT), Mercury attained its greatest eastern elongation, lying 25°09′ east of the Sun.