Mercury is the second smallest planet and the closest to the Sun. It turns very slow on its axis. It takes 58.65 Earth days to turn one rotation. But it's year is very short, only about 88 Earth days. Little Mercury is only about 3,031 miles around. It is 35.99 million miles away from the sun. It is heavily cratered, as you can see in the two mosaics of photographs shown at the top and bottom of this webpage. The surface temperature of Mercury is characterized by major fluctuations. The daytime side of the planet reaches over 400 degrees C (752 degrees F), but on the night side the temperature falls to -170 degrees C (-274 degrees F).
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