Mercury’s orbital precession

Compare a fixed Newtonian ellipse with the tiny relativistic rotation of Mercury’s perihelion.

Newtonian + general relativityRunning

Relativistic orbitNewtonian referencePerihelion

Distance46.0 million km

Speed59.0 km/s

Completed orbits0

Accumulated shift0.000″

GR per century42.98″

Accumulated perihelion angle

Perihelion and aphelion

Perihelion is Mercury’s closest point to the Sun; aphelion is its farthest. The line joining them is the orbit’s major axis.

The missing 43 arcseconds

Planetary perturbations and reference-frame effects explain almost all observed precession. Newtonian calculations once left roughly 43 arcseconds per century unexplained.

Curved spacetime

General relativity adds a small advance each orbit. Einstein’s prediction accounted for the remaining discrepancy without introducing another planet.

Scale note: The orbit uses Keplerian motion with the leading GR perihelion correction. Precession is visually magnified by up to 100,000×; live arcsecond values remain calculated, not magnified.