The planet
Mercury
is very difficult to study from the Earth because it is
always so close to the Sun. Even at elongation, it is never more than 28
degrees from the Sun in our sky. It is the second
smallest planet (it was believed to be the smallest until the discovery that
Pluto is actually much smaller than originally thought), and also the
fastest in its orbit since it is the innermost planet. In fact,
the name Mercury derives
from its speed in moving around its orbit.
We began to learn more about
Mercury with radar imaging from the Earth in the 1960s, and obtained most of
what we know about the planet from the
Mariner 10
space probe was placed into a
complicated orbit involving Venus and Mercury and which passed
close to Mercury and sent back information three times in the period
1974-1976 (image
source).