Mercury Poster – Version B
| Credit | NASA |
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Version B of the Mercury installment of our solar system poster series.
The posters are best printed on 11x17 paper. Several download options are available in the column on the right.
- There are three iterations of this poster: Version A, Version B (this one) and Version C.
- Download full set
About the image: This mosaic of images from NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft shows the impact crater Hokusai on Mercury. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
On the Back
Mercury—the smallest planet in our solar system and nearest to the Sun—is only slightly larger than Earth's Moon.
From the surface of Mercury, the Sun would appear more than three times as large as it does when viewed from Earth, and the sunlight would be as much as 11 times brighter.
Despite its proximity to the Sun, Mercury is not the hottest planet in our solar system – that title belongs to nearby Venus, thanks to its dense atmosphere. But Mercury is the fastest planet, zipping around the Sun every 88 Earth days.
Mercury is appropriately named for the swiftest of the ancient Roman gods.
Explore Mercury in depth at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/mercury