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Planets & Moons

Mercury

Mercury's mean orbital speed around the Sun is 47.4 km/s on the NASA planetary fact sheet.

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Velocity

Published as 47.4 km/s

Mean orbital speed around the Sun, NASA planetary fact sheet comparison table, one decimal place.

OfficialNASA National Space Science Data Center (opens source in a new tab)

In context

  • 4.3 laps of Earth an hourConstant · Earth's equator, 40,075 km (WGS 84)
  • London to New York in 2 minConstant · London to New York, 5,570 km great-circle
  • 1.6× Earth's speed around the SunSourced · Earth, 29.8 km/s. NASA planetary fact sheet, mean orbital speed

Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 47.4km/s106,030mphRanked figure

    Mean orbital speed around the Sun, NASA planetary fact sheet comparison table, one decimal place.

    Official
    NASA National Space Science Data Center (opens source in a new tab)Accessed

Reference

Specs

Body
Mercury
Frame
Around the Sun
Table
NASA planetary fact sheet
Speed
47.4 km/s

Context

Background

The ranked speed is 47.4 km/s, the orbital-velocity cell for Mercury on NASA's planetary fact sheet. The sheet's notes say orbital velocity is the average speed of the body as it orbits the Sun. HyperPhysics reprints the same NASA column.

HyperPhysics prints the same 47.4 km/s. The Moon's 1.0 km/s is left off this list: the notes say that value is its average speed around Earth, not around the Sun.

Checked 8 October 2026.

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