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Mercury is the first planet from the Sun and the smallest in the Solar System. In English, it is named after the Roman god Mercurius ( Mercury ), god of commerce and communication, and the messenger of the gods. Mercury is classified as a terrestrial planet, with roughly the same surface gravity as Mars.
- 47.36 km/s
- 58.646 d, 1407.5 h
- 10.892 km/h (3.026 m/s)
- trace (≲ 0.5 nPa)
Apr 23, 2024 · Mercury, the innermost planet of the solar system and the eighth in size and mass. Its closeness to the Sun and its smallness make it the most elusive of the planets visible to the unaided eye. Because its rising or setting is always within about two hours of the Sun’s, it is never observable when the sky is fully dark.
- Clark R. Chapman
- How big is Mercury?Mercury has a radius of about 2,440 km, and its surface area is 74,797,000 km2. Its mass is 3.30 × 1023 kg. Mercury is the smallest major planet in...
- Why is it difficult to observe Mercury?Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system, and it is also the planet closest to the Sun, making it the most difficult of the planets to se...
- How far is Mercury from the Sun?Mercury's average orbital distance from the Sun is 58 million km (36 million miles) and it has the shortest year (a revolution period of 88 days)....
- How hot and cold does Mercury get?Two locations on Mercury’s equator are called hot poles, and surface temperatures there can exceed 700 kelvins (K; 800 °F, 430 °C). Surface tempera...
- Which moons in the solar system are larger than Mercury?Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, and Titan, a moon of Saturn, are both larger than Mercury, the smallest major planet.
Learn about Mercury, the smallest and fastest planet in our solar system, with facts, images, stories and more. Find out how NASA studies Mercury with spacecraft, missions and eclipses.
Learn about the smallest and fastest planet in our solar system, Mercury, and its surface, atmosphere, and exploration. Find out how Mercury's orbit, rotation, and temperature affect its features and environment.
- A year on Mercury is just 88 days long. One solar day (the time from noon to noon on the planet’s surface) on Mercury lasts the equivalent of 176 Earth days while the sidereal day (the time for 1 rotation in relation to a fixed point) lasts59 Earth days.
- Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System. One of five planets visible with the naked eye a, Mercury is just 4,879 Kilometres across its equator, compared with 12,742 Kilometres for the Earth.
- Mercury is the second densest planet. Even though the planet is small, Mercury is very dense. Each cubic centimetre has a density of 5.4 grams, with only the Earth having a higher density.
- Mercury has wrinkles. As the iron core of the planet cooled and contracted, the surface of the planet became wrinkled. Scientist have named these wrinkles, Lobate Scarps.
Apr 22, 2024 · Learn about Mercury, the smallest and fastest planet in our solar system. Find out how it looks, how it spins, what it is made of, and how we have explored it.
Oct 19, 2018 · Learn about the smallest, fastest, and most elusive planet in our solar system. Find out how Mercury was formed, what its surface looks like, and what missions have explored it.
