Mercury in numbers – infographic

Infographic about Mercury, the solar system's smallest planet. (Credit: Canadian Space Agency)

This infographic features an image of Mercury along with a series of facts that highlight some of the differences between Mercury and Earth.

• A graphic shows that Mercury and Earth orbit the Sun in the same direction.
• The distance from the Earth to Mercury ranges from 77 to 222 million kilometres depending on its orbit.
• Mercury is two-fifths the size of Earth.
• Mercury is 1/20 the mass of Earth.
• It takes Mercury 88 Earth days to make one revolution around the Sun.
• It takes Mercury 59 Earth days to complete one rotation on its axis.
• Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system. It is only about 40% larger than Earth's Moon.
• From Mercury, the Sun can appear more than three times larger than it does on Earth.
• The average temperature of Mercury is 178 degrees Celsius. Temperatures can reach 430 degrees Celsius during the day and drop to -180 degrees Celsius at night.
• Mercury has no moons. Of all the planets in our solar system, only Mercury and Venus have no moons.