Fast Facts for Kids
Mercury Facts for Kids

Mercury Facts for Kids

  • Planet Name: Mercury
  • Planet Type: Terrestrial
  • Region: Inner Solar System
  • Moons: 0
  • Rotation Period: 58.646 (Earth days)
  • Sun Orbit Period: 0.2408467 (Earth years)
  • Discovered: 1610 (First telescope observation)

15 Mercury Facts For Kids

  1. The planet Mercury was formed from a small part of a giant molecular cloud that had a gravitational collapse about 4.6 billion years ago.
  2. Mercury was first observed as early as the 14th century BCE by an Assyrian astronomer according to the MUL.APIN tablets. The first observation of Mercury using a telescope was in 1610 by English astronomer Thomas Harriot and Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei.
  3. Mercury is classified as a terrestrial planet (telluric or rocky planet).
  4. Mercury’s atmosphere contains approximately 42% oxygen, 22% sodium, 22% hydrogen, 6% helium and 8% of other gases.
  5. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun at 35,983,125 miles or 0.39 astronomical units.
  6. Mercury is the smallest planet in our Solar System with a radius of 1,516 miles or 38% the size of Earth.
  7. Light from the Sun takes 3.2 minutes (193 seconds) to reach Mercury.
  8. Mercury completes an orbit around the Sun every 0.2408467 Earth years.
  9. Mercury completes a full planet rotation every 58.646 Earth days.
  10. Mercury is the second planet in our Solar System with an average surface temperature of 333 °F.
  11. Mercury has no moons (natural satellites).
  12. Mercury is one of the four planets in our Solar System that doesn’t have a ring system.
  13. The first spacecraft to explore and study Mercury was NASA’s Mariner 10 space probe on March 29th, 1974.
  14. The only other spacecraft to explore and study Mercury NASA’s MESSENGER space probe between 2011 and 2015.
  15. The ESA spacecraft BepiColombo is expected to arrive and study Mercury in 2025.

Select a Solar System Facts Section

Mercury Pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below images will be helpful for your research on the planet Mercury. Below are three various pictures of Mercury. These pictures should help you better understand Mercury, one of the eight planets in our Solar System.

The Surface of Mercury

A picture of the surface of Mercury

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Southern Hemisphere of Mercury

A picture of the southern hemisphere of Mercury.

Credit: NASA/JPL
Apollodorus Crater on Mercury

A picture of Apollodorus Crater on Mercury.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Planet Mercury Resources

We hope you found the above Mercury facts, information, data, and pictures both fun and educational. You can continue to research the planet Mercury using one of the below additional resources. They were chosen for their credibility and accuracy; you can trust their information when it comes to Mercury. Thank you for choosing Fast Facts for Kids.