Top 10 interesting facts about Mercury

 

1. Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system and is closest to the sun.
2. It is only slightly larger than Earth's moon, with a diameter of approximately 4,880 km.
3. Mercury has a heavily cratered surface, similar to the moon, with no known plate tectonics or atmosphere.
4. Despite being the closest planet to the sun, Mercury's surface temperature can range from -173°C to 427°C due to its lack of an atmosphere to retain heat.
5. Mercury has a very slow rotation, completing one rotation on its axis in about 58 Earth days.
6. Mercury has a very elliptical orbit, bringing it as close as 77 million km to the sun and as far as 70 million km away.
7. The Caloris Basin, a huge impact crater, is one of the most prominent features on Mercury's surface.
8. The first spacecraft to visit Mercury was Mariner 10 in 1974-75, and the first spacecraft to orbit the planet was MESSENGER in 2011.
9. In January 2008, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft discovered ice at the bottoms of craters near the planet's poles.
10. Mercury's magnetic field is about 1% the strength of Earth's and is thought to be generated by a dynamo effect in its liquid core.