Hi all ...

Here is a quote from Wiki which I found on this page ... [en.wikipedia.org]) and the quote in question ... Like Venus, Mercury orbits the Sun within Earth's orbit as an inferior planet, so it can only be seen visually in the morning or the evening sky, and never exceeds 28° away from the Sun. ... and here is my revision ... ( Please note that if Mercury is at Aphelion of 69,816,900 km and Earth is at Perihelion of 147,095,000 km the resulting angle would equal 28.335 degrees and thus appears to be the greatest elongation achievable.) and what the person who deleted my addition said ... ... This info is not cited nor is the accuracy relevant.) ...

The statement "and never exceeds 28° away from the Sun" is by my calculations simply wrong for as I show if Mercury is at Aphelion and Earth is at Perihelion the resulting angle is as I point out 28.335 (Sine of 69,816,900 / 147,905,000 or 0.474638 and this results in Sine of 28.336 degrees.

Seems as usual I will have to go through NASA to get things changed as I did with the speed of Mercury which not only Wiki but NASA itself had posted a wrong value. ...

Regards
Don Barone


"There is nothing as impenetrable as a closed mind"
and ..." if everything is a coincidence what is the point of studying or measuring or analyzing anything ?" db