Mercury

 Mercury

Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System and the closest to the Sun. Its orbit around the Sun takes 87.97 Earth days, the shortest of all the Sun's planets.

Information

View on Maps: google.com/maps/space/mercury

Distance from Sun: 57.91 million km

Orbital period: 88 days

Radius: 2,439.7 km

Density: 5.43 g/cm³

Surface area: 74.8 million km²

Mass: 3.285 × 10^23 kg (0.055 M⊕)

Number of moons

Planet / Dwarf Planet	Confirmed Moons	Total
Mercury	0	0
Venus	0	0
Earth	1	1
Mars	2	2

Colors

dark gray

Planets have the colors that they have because of what they are made of and how their surfaces or atmospheres reflect and absorb sunlight. Mercury has a dark gray, rocky surface which is covered with a thick layer of dust. The surface is thought to be made up of igneous silicate rocks and dust.

Atmosphere composition

Atmosphere. Instead of an atmosphere, Mercury possesses a thin exosphere made up of atoms blasted off the surface by the solar wind and striking meteoroids. Mercury's exosphere is composed mostly of oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium and potassium.

Temperature range

It is understood that the sunny side may reach temperatures of 750 to 800 degrees F., while the nighttime temperature plummets to nearly -330 degrees F. The average temperature on Mercury is a balmy 354 degrees F.