Location

Mercury Location: 41.26092, -111.76781      What3Words: ///eclipses.proportions.folk

Location Description: Northwest corner of 200 S 7500 E Huntsville, next to the red-roofed trailhead pavillion.

Does Mercury look small? It is. Although Mercury is visible to the naked eye, it’s only slightly larger than Earth’s moon. A trip to Mercury in a spaceship would take 147 days, travelling 30,000 mph.

As the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury is hot, but also cold. During its daylight hours you would experience the Sun seven times as intensely as Earth’s hottest deserts. During its night hours,  it’s colder than Neptune. If the heat isn’t for you and you are feeling adventurous, head to Mercury’s north and south poles where you can ice climb their polar ice caps.

Before you leave, don’t miss Mercury’s famous double sunset. Because of Mercury’s extremely elliptical orbit and slow daily rotation, the Sun appears to set, rise, then set again before each night falls.