Mercury will reach the closest point to the sun in the sky of Qatar next Friday

Today, the Qatar Calendar House announced that the smallest planet of the solar system, Mercury, will reach the closest point in its orbit around the sun (perihelion) on Friday 9 Ramadan 1444 AH, corresponding to March 31, 2023 AD, at 10:48 pm Doha time. local, as Mercury will be at a distance of approximately 46 million km from the center of the sun, and a difference of 24 million km from what it was on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 AD, knowing that Mercury was then at a distance of approximately 70 million km from the center of the sun, which is the farthest point it reaches Mercury to it from the sun (aphelion point). Dr. Bashir Marzouk (an astronomer at the Qatar Calendar House) said that residents of the State of Qatar can observe the planet Mercury on Friday evening above the western horizon of the sky of the State of Qatar using astronomical devices, from after sunset until before the sunset of Mercury, knowing that the Friday sun will set at At 5:51 pm, while Mercury will set at 6:51 pm Doha local time, bearing in mind that the best areas for observing Mercury are areas far from light and environmental pollutants. Dr. added. Marzouk: "The planet 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 cycle around the sun), as it last reached the closest point to the sun on Monday, January 2, 2023 AD, while it will reach it again on Tuesday. June 27, 2023 AD". Astronomical studies indicate that the great change in the distance between the location of Mercury and the sun when Mercury reaches the aphelion and perihelion points causes the surface of Mercury to acquire 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 acquires when it is located at Farthest point from the sun (aphelion). It is noteworthy that the planet Mercury revolves around the sun in an elliptical orbit (ellipse) like the rest of the planets of our solar system, and the sun is in one of the two foci of this orbit, and therefore Mercury is sometimes in a point close to the sun called (perihelion), and at other times it is in a far point About the sun is called (apogee point). It is noteworthy that Mercury is one of the rocky planets in our solar system, in addition to being the closest planet to the sun, as it is an average distance of 58 million km from it, and there are no natural satellites orbiting around Mercury, nor does it have an atmosphere that protects it from storms and solar explosions. like planet earth.