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Sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto
SUMMARY
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, and is also the second
smallest
planet. Mercury is a very hot, dry planet because it is so close to the sun.
Composition
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| Mercury is composed almost entirely of rock. |
Atmosphere
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| Very little is known about Mercury's atmosphere.
Most scientists believe Mercury has no atmosphere at all, because of the extreme
differences in night and day temperatures. Temperatures can be as hot as 800 degrees
Fahrenheit in the day, and as cold as -290 degrees Fahrenheit at night. However, there
have been nighttime readings as warm as 70 degrees Fahrenheit, causing some scientists to
believe there may be a very thin carbon dioxide atmsphere that helps regulate
temperatures. |
Size
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| Mercury is the second smallest planet, after Pluto.
Mercury has a diameter of 3,031 miles, which is less than half the diameter of
Earth. |
Orbit
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| Mercury is about 36 million miles away from the sun,
which is very close compared to the other eight planets. Mercury's orbit is very
unique in that it revolves very quickly around the sun, but it rotates on its axis very
slowly. Therefore, a day on Mercury is almost as long as a year. |
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