Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System
One of five planets visible with the naked eye  –  just 3,049 miles across its equator, compared with 7,964 miles for the Earth.
- smallest planet in the solar system.
- closes to the Sun.
- distance from the Sun – 35,980,000 miles.
- 88 days in one year (Earth = 365 days in one year).
- one Earth year (365 days) is the same as 4 Mercury year.
- 176 earth day is the same as one mercury day.
- Mercury is covered in thousands of craters.
- temperature: minimum -173ºC / maximum +427ºC.
- Mercury is slightly larger than Earth’s moon.
Only two spacecraft have ever visited Mercury
- During 1974 and 1975 Mariner 10 (left photo) flew by Mercury three times, during this time they mapped just under half of the planet’s surface.
- On August 3rd 2004, the Messenger probe (right photo) was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, this was the first spacecraft to visit since the mid 1970′s.
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