Mercury Rising

I'm sure many science fiction writers see the NASA Messenger's images of Mercury as great fodder for their story idea mill. Imagine living on Mercury with its 88 day years. How many birthdays would you have now?

Sun-scorched Mercury is only slightly larger than Earth's Moon. Like the Moon, Mercury has very little atmosphere to stop impacts, and it is covered with craters. Mercury's dayside is super-heated by the sun, but at night temperatures drop hundreds of degrees below freezing. Ice may even exist in craters. Mercury's egg-shaped orbit takes it around the sun every 88 days.

NASA Photo

To read more about Mercury at NASA, click here!