according to NASA. The exosphere gives Mercury llittle protection from objects like asteroids and the planet is pockmarked with craters, so much so that Mercury looks similar to Earth's moon.

Since its first visit from NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft in ... Here we explore 10 strange facts about the planet Mercury. Related: Sounds in space: What noises do planets make?

Related: 10 strange Mercury facts The Sumerians ... D.C., said in a NASA statement. Indeed, a 2016 study of cliffs on Mercury's surface suggested the planet may still rumble with earthquakes ...

Click on the gallery to explore scientific facts, ancient beliefs, and modern mysticism about the planet ... craters at Mercury's poles. The MESSENGER spacecraft, launched by NASA from Cape ...

On Thursday, after four years of orbiting Mercury, NASA’s MESSENGER probe is going to crash violently into the planet’s surface. Scientists will use the 50-foot-wide crater carved out by the ...

Rockets roared to life on August 3, 2004, as an intrepid spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral and set out to uncover mysteries about the Solar System’s smallest planet: Mercury. The Messenger ...

NASA's Messenger probe is set to make history tomorrow night (March 17), when — if all goes well — it will become the first spacecraft ever to enter into orbit around the planet Mercury.

Mercury's surface temperature can reach a scorching 430°C under the full Sun. Photo Credit: NASA But Venus, despite being farther from the Sun, is the hottest planet in our Solar System.

Jess Thomson is a Newsweek Science Reporter based in London UK. Her focus is reporting on science, technology and healthcare. She has covered weird animal behavior, space news and the impacts of ...

30 issue of the journal Science, a trove of knowledge from NASA's Messenger probe, covering everything from odd landscape to the planet's magnetic core. Messenger, which stands for "Mercury ...