PLANET SEARCH
FUTURES:
Winner of Sir Arthur Clarke Award for 'Best Written
Presentation', 2005
Mercury 
Planet
of extremes
- Diameter: 3.029 miles/4,875 km
- Distance from Sun: 36 million miles/58 M km
- Length of Year: 88 days
- Rotation: 59 days
- Gravity (x Earth's): 0.38
- Axial Tilt: 0.5 degrees
- Average Temperature: -173C to 427C
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From Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, the solar disc will appear over twice as large as it does from Earth. It used to be thought that one side of Mercury always faces the Sun, but in fact it rotates in 59 days while its 'year' is 88 days. Superficially Moonlike, it has many features not found elsewhere. |
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| As yet, only about half of the planet Mercury has ever been seen in detail, or mapped, from information transmitted by Mariner 10 in 1974. A new probe is being planned. | ) |
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