Mercury
Distance from Sun: 36,000,000 miles
Diameter: 3,032 miles or about 1/3 that of Earth
Number of moons: 0
Length of year: 88 Earth days
Temperature: -279°F to 800°F
Mercury is a ball of rock with an iron core.
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Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun. Its greyish surface is covered
with craters made by objects that hit the planet. Mercury has no atmosphere and
no water, and the surface would be very unpleasant to be on. The side of the
planet that faces the Sun gets very hot, and the side that faces away from the
Sun gets very cold.
The source of this material is Windows to the Universe,
at http://www.windows.ucar.edu/ at
the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). ©1995-1999, 2000 The
Regents of the University of Michigan; ©2000-04 University Corporation for
Atmospheric Research. All Rights Reserved.
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