Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun and the smallest

Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun and the smallest. It is only a little bigger than our Moon. Mercury is rocky, and it has a solid, cratered surface. Its solid, rocky surface can be seen by the small amount of light that reflects off its surface.

There is no atmosphere on Mercury. Without an atmosphere to protect it, the surface of Mercury is constantly being bombarded by meteorites and other space debris. This also leaves craters in the surface of Mercury. There are many craters on Mercury similar to those found on Earth's Moon.

Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun and the smallest, but it is also one of the most extreme planets in the Solar System. It has a large iron core producing a magnetic field more than twice as strong as Earth’s (relative to its size). Its surface temperature varies from -173 degrees Celsius at night, when it has no atmosphere to reflect back heat from the Sun, to 427 degrees Celsius during the day. Mercury has almost no atmosphere to stop impacts, so its surface is covered with craters. The planet is named after the Roman messenger of the gods because it moves so quickly across the sky.

Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun and the smallest of the eight planets in our solar system. It is difficult to observe from Earth due to its proximity to the Sun.

The surface of Mercury is very similar to that of Earth's moon. It has many craters caused by meteor impacts. Because there is no atmosphere on Mercury, there is no wind or water erosion, so craters last for a long time.

Mercury does not have a global magnetic field like Earth does, but it does have areas of strong local magnetic fields associated with crustal rocks.

Mercury is a rocky planet.

There are many rocks on the surface of Mercury, but no soil.

Beneath the rocks is a solid layer of metal called nickel and iron, which is like the Earth's core.

Mercury is not geologically active like Earth. This means that its surface is not being constantly renewed by volcanic eruptions or tectonic plate movement, so craters formed by meteorite impacts remain visible for billions of years.

A planet's distance from the Sun and its size determine how much energy it receives from the Sun. The innermost planets (Mercury and Venus) are smaller, rocky worlds with no moons. They are also relatively close to the Sun. As a result, these planets have lost little of their internal heat.

Earth is like Mercury and Venus in many ways, but it lies at a greater distance from the Sun. Earth's Moon may help us understand how Earth has stayed geologically active despite being farther from the Sun than Mercury and Venus. The more distant outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) have lost most of their internal heat by now.

When we think of the Earth, we think of the beautiful green and blue planet that is covered with plants, water, and animals. We exist on this planet. This is our home.

However, if we look at the Earth in a different way, we can see that it is really rocks and magma. The layers of rock are called the crust and mantle. The crust is what we walk on every day. The mantle is the mostly-solid layer underneath the crust.

The crust is made up of many pieces called tectonic plates. These plates move slowly over time. When two tectonic plates collide together, one plate goes under another plate due to its density.

The process where one plate goes under another plate is called subduction. Subduction changes the rocks by melting them and changing their chemical composition, which also causes them to melt into magma when they reach a certain depth inside the Earth's mantle.