OtterKnow Kids EncyclopediaMercury is the smallest planet in our solar system and the closest one to the Sun. It is also the fastest planet! Mercury zooms around the Sun so quickly that it completes one trip in just 88 days. That is why we call it the speedy planet.
Mercury is a rocky planet covered in craters, kind of like our Moon. During the day, it gets super hot because it is so close to the Sun. But at night it gets freezing cold because Mercury has almost no air to hold in the heat. You would not want to visit without a very special spacesuit!
- Mercury is only a little bit bigger than Earth’s Moon.
- A year on Mercury is only 88 Earth days, but a single day on Mercury lasts 59 Earth days.
- Mercury was named after the speedy messenger of the Roman gods!
