Mercury is the closest planet to the sun.  As a result of this Mercury is a worn and beaten planet. The atmosphere has been almost totally stripped away and the planet has been bombarded by objects heading inward to the sun. Mercury looks like the moon with it craters. It's not much bigger than the moon either, only 3,031 miles in diameter. The temperature on Mercury in the direct sunlight can be as high as 800F, and as low as -292F in the shadows. Mercury is not a place you'd want to spend your summer vacation.

 We have sent several missions to Mercury, Mariner 10 took the picture above. Recent mapping of the planet with radar from earth show that there may be ice in the shadows of the craters in the south pole of the planet.  If you observe Mercury with a telescope or big binoculars you will see that Mercury has a "phase" to it just like the moon. Both Mercury and Venus have this because they are inside earths orbit to us and there are times when we only view part of the planet which is illuminated by the sun.

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