Mercury
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and 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. Thirtheen timesa century Mercury can be observed from the Earth passing across the face of the su n in an event called a transit
Mercury Facts
- Diameter: 4,879 km
- Mass: 3.29x10^23 kg(0.06 Earths)
- Moons: None
- Orbit distance:57,909,227km(0.39AU)
- Orbit period: 88 days
- Surface temperature:-173° to 427°c
- First record: 14th century BC
- Recorded by: Assyrian astronomers