Mercury to Reach Nearest Point from Sun on Qatar Skies on Thursday

Doha, April 11 (QNA) - Qatari Calendar House announced that the smallest planet of the solar system, Mercury, will reach the closest point in its orbit around the sun (perihelion) during the early morning hours of next Thursday the 13th of Ramadan 1443 AH, corresponding to April 14, 2022, AD at 1:48 am Doha local time. Mercury will be at approximately 46 million km from the center of the sun, which is the farthest point from the sun that Mercury reaches (aphelion point). Astronomy Expert at the Qatari Calendar House Dr. Bashir Marzouq stated that the residents of the State of Qatar can observe the planet Mercury on the evening of next Thursday, on the western horizon of the sky of the State of Qatar using astronomical devices, after sunset at 5:56 pm Doha local time and even before the disappearance of Mercury in Qatar sky at 6:52 pm, while taking into account the presence in areas far from light and environmental pollutants during monitoring. Astronomical studies indicate that the significant change in the distance between the location of Mercury and the sun when Mercury reaches the apogee and perihelion points, makes the surface of Mercury gain a double amount of solar energy when it is located at the closest point to the sun (perihelion) compared to the amount of solar energy that Mercury gains when it falls at the farthest point from the sun (aphelion point). Dr. Marzouq pointed out that Mercury reaches the closest point in its orbit around the sun once every 88 days (which is the period during which Mercury completes a full round around the sun), as it reached the closest point on Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, AD, while it will reach it again Monday, July 11, 2022 AD. Mercury, like other planets of the solar system, moves around the sun in an elliptical orbit (ellipse), with the sun in one of the two foci of this orbit, and therefore Mercury is sometimes at a point close to the sun called (perihelion), and at other times it is in a point far from the sun is called apogee. It is known that Mercury is one of the rocky planets in the solar system, in addition to being the closest planet to the sun, with an average distance of 58 million km from it. There are no natural satellites orbiting Mercury, and it does not have an atmosphere that protects it from solar storms and eruptions like the planet Earth. (QNA)