Mercury's Perihelion and Aphelion
After Pluto, Mercury has the most elliptical orbit of any planet in the solar system.
| Point in Orbit |
Published
distance
in
km (000) |
Relative
distance
where
Mercury = 1 |
| Perihelion |
46.0 |
0.7945 |
| Mean |
57.9 |
1.0000 |
| Aphelion |
69.8 |
1.2065 |
As with all the other planetary distances that involve a
relationship in the form ½ ( Öx + y ), the same relationships
exist in the orbit of Mercury:
| Point in Orbit |
Published
distance
in km
(000) |
As expressed
in Solar
Geometry |
Resulting
numeric
value |
Difference
from
published
value above |
| Perihelion |
46.0 |
2- ½ (Ö2+1) |
0.7929 |
0.0016 |
| Mean |
57.9 |
½ (Ö1+1) |
1.0000 |
0.0000 |
| Aphelion |
69.8 |
½ (Ö2+1) |
1.2071 |
-0.0016 |
Again, Solar Geometry explains the orbits of the solar
system with a relationship that appears again and again.
This results in the following Solar Geometry, show the aphelion (A), mean
(Mercury) and perihelion (P) of Mercury's orbit in relation to the Sun. Note that the
perihelion is half way between the mean orbital distance of 1 and radius of the square,
which is the square root of 2.
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