Mercury is both the solar system’s smallest planet and the planet closest to the Sun. It’s relatively easy to see before sunrise or at dusk and has been known about since ancient times. It also orbits the Sun in just 88 days, earning it the name the Swift Planet. Let’s find out...
Click on any planet below to find out more about it: The Planets Mercury Facts Venus Facts Earth Facts Mars Facts Jupiter Facts Saturn Facts Uranus Facts Neptune Facts Facts about the Planets Mercury’s craters are named after famous artists, musicians and authors. Venus is the hottest planet ...
Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system. The dinky planet is approximately 3,030 miles (4,876 kilometers) in diameter, making it about as wide as the continental United States and only slightly bigger than Earth's moon. Saturn's moon Titan andJupiter's moonGanymedeare both large...
Mercury is the closest planet to theSunand due to its proximity it is not easily seen except during twilight. For every two orbits of the Sun, Mercury completes three rotations about its axis and up until 1965 it was thought that the same side of Mercury constantly faced the Sun. Thirteen...
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Fact 1.Mars is thesecond smallest planet afterMercury, and is famously known as the “Red Planet” due to the widespread iron oxide on its surface that gives it the characteristic red color. Fact 2.Mars contains the largest volcanic mountain in the entire solar system. Olympus Mons, a shiel...
This entry includes general facts about the planets of the solar system, such as that Jupiter is the largest planet and Pluto is the smallest, Mercury is the planet that is closest to the Sun, Venus comes closer to the Earth than any other planet, the fastest-moving planet is Mercury and...
Plus you can learn more about what’s in our Solar System with our Top 10 Facts on the Sun and the Moon; the planets Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and the dwarf planet Pluto. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and the smallest planet in our Solar Sys...
The planet orbits its star at a distance of just 3.7 million miles, over 10 times closer than Mercury is to the sun. As a result, if Alpha Centauri Bb is confirmed to exist, it is being blasted with huge doses of radiation, bringing the surface temperature up to 2,200 degrees ...
But now that the spacecraft has been circling the planet for a few years, we know a heck of a lot more. Here is some stuff about Mercury that’s useful to know. 1. Mercury has water ice and organics. This may sound surprising given that the planet is so close to the Sun, but th...