Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in the Solar System. It is tidally locked with the Sun which means it’s one side is always facing towards the sun. Its orbit around the Sun takes 87.97 days and completes one rotation on its axis in around 58 days.
Mass: 3.3011×10^23 kg
Radius: 2439 Km
Density: 5.427 g/cm^3
Escape Velocity: 4.25 km/sec
Gravity: 3.7 m/s^2 (0.38 X Earth)
Distance from Sun: 58.2 Million km (3.23 light minutes)
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.
With a radius of 1,516 miles (2,440 kilometres), Mercury is a little more than 1/3 the width of Earth.
Mercury revolves around the sun at a whopping speed of 47 km/sec, faster than any other planet in our solar system.
Mercury spins slowly compared to Earth, so one day lasts a long time. Mercury takes 59 Earth days to make one full rotation. But a year on Mercury goes fast. Because it’s the closest planet to the sun, it goes around the Sun in just 88 Earth days.
Bonus Fact : Even though mercury is closest to the sun still it’s not the hottest planet in our solar system, it’s Venus
