Mercury (planet) at a steep angle. Mercury is 10° above the horizon when the planet appears directly above the Sun (i.e. its orbit appears vertical) and is at maximum elongation from the Sun (28°) and also when the Sun is 18° below the horizon, so the sky is just completely dark. This angle is the maximum altitude at which Mercury is visible in a completely dark sky. At middle latitudes, Mercury is more often and easily visible from the Southern Hemisphere than from the Northern. This is because Mercury's maximum western elongation occurs only during early autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, whereas
The empire on which the sun never sets the sun encircles.” Mesopotamian texts contemporary to Sargon of Akkad (c. 2334 – 2279 BC) proclaim that this king ruled “all the lands from sunrise to sunset.” In the early 16th century, the phrase, ""el imperio en el que nunca se pone el sol"" ("the empire on which the sun never sets") originated with a remark made by Fray Francisco de Ugalde to Charles I, who as king of Spain and as Holy Roman Emperor by the name of Charles V, had an empire, which included many territories in Europe, islands in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, cities in North Africa