How fast does Mercury travel around the Sun?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Mercury travels around the Sun with a mean orbital velocity of 47.36 km/sec. Its orbital period, or the length of a Mercurian year, is approximately 87.97 Earth days.1

Because Mercury has a highly eccentric (elongated) orbit, its speed varies as it moves around the Sun. According to Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, the planet travels most swiftly when it is at perihelion, its closest point to the Sun.2