Mercury

Mercury is the smallest planet, now that Pluto has been re-designated as a dwarf planet, and is the closest planet to the Sun. Even so, Mercury isn’t the hottest planet in the Solar System; Venus wins that prize. However, Mercury has the most craters, orbits the fastest, and has the most irregularly shaped (oval) orbit in the solar system. 

The planet also rotates slowly (a day is equivalent to 58 Earth days 16 hours on Earth). Mercury has no moons because it is so close to the Sun that any potential moon would get sucked into the Sun (this is also why Venus has no moons).

How big is Mercury compared to Earth?

If Earth was the size of a big beach ball, Mercury would be more like a small orange!

How long does it take for Mercury to orbit the Sun?

Mercury zooms around the Sun in just 88 days — super quick! It flies through space at 29 miles (47 km) a second, but takes 59 Earth days to spin once.

What is the surface of Mercury like?

Its greyish-brown surface is covered in craters from space rocks crashing into it. Some are named after famous artists, musicians, and authors — even Dr. Seuss!

A close-up view of an astronaut's bootprint in the lunar soil, photographed with a 70mm lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) on the moon. While astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander, and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, descended in the Lunar Module (LM) "Eagle" to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "Columbia" in lunar orbit. Image Credit: NASA
Apollo Astronaut James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot, works at the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the first Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Hadley-Apennine landing site. The shadow of the Lunar Module "Falcon" is in the foreground. This view is looking northeast, with Mount Hadley in the background. This photograph was taken by astronaut David R. Scott, commander. Image Credit: NASA
NASA's Galileo spacecraft took this image of Earth's Moon on Dec. 7, 1992, on its way to explore the Jupiter system in 1995-97. The distinct bright ray crater at the bottom of the image is the Tycho impact basin. Image Credit: NASA

WOW! This planet is going to be really cool when we get there, but we haven’t gone there yet.

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