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Mercury
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The Innermost Of The Planets 

mercury.jpg

mercurycrater.jpg

Distance from Sun:
0.39AU (1AU = 93,000,000 miles, the distance from Earth to the Sun)
 
Sidereal Revolution Period:
(about sun) 88.0 days
 
Mass (Earth = 1):
318
 
Radius at equator(Earth = 1):
0.055
 
Apparent size:
5-13 arc seconds
 
Sidereal rotation period (at equator):
58.7 days
 
Moons:
none 

Mercury, named for the messenger of the gods, is the closesest planet in our solar system to the Sun. Its cratered surface gives us a look at the turbulance of our early solar system. Mercury is just a mere 36 million miles from the Sun and its lack of an atmosphere allows for a large variety of temperatures, from 750 degrees Fahrenheit during the day to -330 degrees Fahrenheit at night.
     When observing Mercury you may only see a small crescent in a small telescope and even then it may be a dancing, colorful image due to the fact that it is so close to the Sun and may be distorted by our own atmosphere which is thicker at the horizon.