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Sep 25, 2019 · This paradoxically makes Mercury the closest planet to Earth, a plurality of the time. Mercury was named after the Roman messenger god, because of its fast movements around the Sun. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun at a distance of 57.91 million kilometers / 35.98 miles or 0.4 AU away.
Jan 11, 2024 · Mercury Observational Parameters Discoverer: Unknown Discovery Date: Prehistoric Distance from Earth Minimum (10 6 km) 77.3 Maximum (10 6 km) 221.9 Apparent diameter from Earth Maximum (seconds of arc) 13.0 Minimum (seconds of arc) 4.5 Maximum visual magnitude -2.43 Mean values at inferior conjunction with Earth Distance from Earth (10 6 km) 91.69 Apparent diameter (seconds of arc) 11.0
Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system with a diameter of 4,879 km and is one of five planets that is visible to the naked eye. After the Earth, Mercury is the second densest planet. Despite its small size, Mercury is very dense because it is composed mainly of heavy metals and rock – the main characteristic of terrestrial planets .
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft flew by Mercury three times and orbited the planet for four years before crashing on its surface at the end of its mission. The European Space Agency and JAXA launched a joint mission to Mercury in 2018. The mission, called BepiColombo, is made up of two spacecraft. Nine flybys are planned to help steer the ...
Apr 25, 2023 · Space Science, Solar System and Planets, Mercury. Type. Other Multimedia, Websites. This site has facts, figures, images and links about the planet Mercury. Go to ...
The view shown here is an orthographic projection of Mercury's south polar region, colored by an illumination map. Measurements from MESSENGER's MLA instrument during the spacecraft's greater than four-year orbital mission have mapped the topography of Mercury's northern...
