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
Third from the Sun called "Earth". Todd VanDerWerff of "The A.V. Club" rated it A and called the twist "justifiably famous". The episode contains an anomaly: the planet revealed as being Earth is described as being in another solar system, "11 million miles" away. The next closest solar system to our sun is actually 25.7 trillion miles away. Third from the Sun "Third from the Sun" is episode 14 of the American television anthology series "The Twilight Zone". It is based on a short story of the same name by Richard Matheson which first appeared in the first issue of the magazine "Galaxy Science