Starship Asterisk*

A day on Earth is 24 hours. Earth makes a complete orbit around the sun (a year in Earth time) in about 365 days.

Earth orbits our Sun, a star. Earth is the third planet from the Sun at a distance of about 93 million miles (150 million km).

If the Sun were as tall as a typical front door, Earth would be the size of a nickel.

While the surface rotates slowly, the winds blow at hurricane force, sending clouds completely around the planet every five days.

Venus’ extreme temperatures and acidic clouds make it an unlikely place for life as we know it.

More than 40 spacecraft have explored Venus. The ‘90s Magellan mission mapped the planet's surface and Akatsuki is currently orbiting Venus.

Many scientists believe water once existed on the surface. Future Venus explorers will search for evidence of an ancient ocean.

The planet’s surface temperature is about 900 degrees Fahrenheit (465 degrees Celsius)—hot enough to melt lead.

Venus has no moons and no rings.

Venus' solid surface is a volcanic landscape covered with extensive plains featuring high volcanic mountains and vast ridged plateaus.

One day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days because Venus spins backwards, with its sun rising in the west and setting in the east.

Venus orbits our Sun, a star. Venus is the second closest planet to the sun at a distance of about 67 million miles (108 million km).

If the sun were as tall as a typical front door, the Earth and Venus would each be about the size of a nickel.

The two spacecraft of ESA-JAXA's BepiColombo are en route to Mercury. NASA's Mariner 10 was the first mission to explore Mercury. NASA's MESSENGER was the first to orbit the innermost planet.

Standing on Mercury's surface at its closest approach to the Sun, our star would appear more than three times larger than it does on Earth.

No evidence for life has been found on Mercury. Daytime Temperatures can reach 430 degrees Celsius (800 degrees Fahrenheit) and drop to -180 degrees Celsius (-290 degrees Fahrenheit) at night. It is unlikely life (as we know it) could survive on this planet.

There are no rings around Mercury.

Mercury has no moons.

Mercury's thin atmosphere, or exosphere, is composed mostly of oxygen (O2), sodium (Na), hydrogen (H2), helium (He), and potassium (K). Atoms that are blasted off the surface by the solar wind and micrometeoroid impacts create Mercury's exosphere.

Mercury is a rocky planet, also known as a terrestrial planet. Mercury has a solid, cratered surface, much like the Earth's moon.

One day on Mercury (the time it takes for Mercury to rotate or spin once with respect to the stars) takes 59 Earth days. One day-night cycle on Mercury takes 175.97 Earth days. Mercury makes a complete orbit around the Sun (a year in Mercury time) in just 88 Earth days.

It is the closest planet to the Sun at a distance of about 36 million miles (58 million kilometers) or 0.39 AU.

Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system—only slightly larger than Earth's Moon.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a gigantic storm that’s about twice the size of Earth and has raged for over a century.

Jupiter cannot support life as we know it. But some of Jupiter's moons have oceans beneath their crusts that might support life.