Mercury Facts

• Mercury is one of the five planets known to the ancients. They called these planets "wandering stars".
• Mercury may be seen as an evening "star" near where the sun has set, or as a morning "star" near where the sun will rise.
• The ancient Greeks called the evening star Hermes and the morning star Apollo, believing them to be different objects.
• The planet is named for Mercury, the Roman messenger of the gods.
• To the Teutonic peoples, the planet was named for their god Woden. Wednesday (wodnesdaeg in anglo-saxon) is named for him.
• Mercury's atmosphere is so thin that it is barely detectable.
• We have observed in detail less than half of Mercury's surface.