The smallest planet in our solar system and nearest to the Sun, Mercury is only slightly larger than Earth's Moon. From the surface of Mercury, the Sun would appear more than three times as large as it does when viewed from Earth, and the sunlight would be as much as seven times brighter.

Mercury is the fastest planet in our solar system – traveling through space at nearly 29 miles (47 kilometers) per second. The closer a planet is to the Sun, the faster it travels. Since Mercury is the fastest planet and has the shortest distance to travel around the Sun, it has the shortest year of all the planets in our solar system – 88 ...

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Jan 9, 2025 · The mission focuses on fundamental science questions that can be best, or only, achieved by surface operations such as determining Mercury''s bulk composition, the nature of the magnetic field, surface history, internal structure, and surface-solar wind interactions.

Jan 9, 2025 · NASA’s real-time science encyclopedia of deep space exploration. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild frontiers of our solar system.

Pluto, discovered in 1930, was identified as the ninth planet. But Pluto is much smaller than Mercury and is even smaller than some of the planetary moons. It is unlike the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars), or the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn), or …

Jan 9, 2025 · Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, and the smallest planet in our solar system - only slightly larger than Earth's Moon.

Jan 9, 2025 · Panel Selection: Inner Planets: Mercury, Venus, and the Moon. Giant Planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and exoplanets, including rings and magnetic fields, but not their satellites. Satellites: Galilean satellites, Titan, and the other satellites of the giant planets.

Jan 9, 2025 · A lifelong resident of New Jersey, Paul has a Bachelor of Science degree from Rutgers University. He is a member of the New Jersey Astronomical Association and former leader for the Somerset County 4-H Space & Astronomy Club.

Panel Selection: Inner Planets: Mercury, Venus, and the Moon. Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison he primary difficulty in accepting the computer modeled "giant impact" hypothesis for the origin of the Moon, versus independent derivation, comes from the analysis of the non-glass components of lunar pyroclastic deposits.