00:00 The planet Mercury is the smallest, fastest, and most pot-marked planet in our solar system, and there are some surprising things about it that will astonish you.

01:44 Mercury is a small, atmosphere-less planet that is often overlooked, but it has unique characteristics such as a longer day than year and being the second hottest planet in the solar system.

03:13 Mercury has no atmosphere and experiences extreme temperature fluctuations, and it was known to ancient civilizations by various names associated with gods and celestial events.

04:37 Mercury is difficult to explore due to its proximity to the sun, lack of atmosphere, and the need to slow down to enter its orbit, but the first probe, Mariner 10, was able to conduct a fly-by mission in 1973.

06:08 The Mariner 10 probe was able to capture images of about 45% of Mercury's surface during its three fly-bys, revealing the planet's magnetic field and the presence of scarps, suggesting that Mercury may have a liquid core and is shrinking.

07:41 Mercury has only been visited by two missions so far, but there is another mission scheduled to reach the planet in 2025, and despite its extreme surface temperatures, it is considered a potential place for colonization due to the possibility of frozen water in the polar regions and the presence of metallic ores. Additionally, the visual representation of the solar system as a series of rings around the sun does not accurately reflect the proximity of planets to each other.

09:01 Mercury is the closest planet to Earth on average due to its fast orbit around the sun, and it is also the closest planet to every other planet in the solar system for the same reason.