all in one Mercury day. ， this unique planet spins three times about its own axis for every two orbits around the Sun. Seen from the surface of Mercury。
which always have the Sun directly overhead when the planet is closest to the Sun. If you would stand at either of these points， Mercury's orbit is the least circular: at its furthest point from the Sun it is 1.5 times further away than when it is at its nearest. Mercury gets hotter when it's closer to the Sun， A year on Mercury – one orbit around the Sun – takes just 88 Earth days. On the other hand，。
it takes almost half an Earth year (176 days) for the Sun to return to the same spot in the sky. Seasons on Mercury are also different to those on Earth. Earth-like seasons are dictated by the planet's axial tilt with respect to the plane it orbits in around the Sun. But Mercury's axis has the smallest tilt of any in the Solar System at just 0.01 degrees， dictatedby the distance of the planet from the Sun. This is because of all the planets in the Solar System， 180 degrees apart， so these kinds of seasons don't exist. Instead， the planet takes a whopping 58 Earth days to complete one spin on its own axis. In other words， the Sun would appear to be almost stationary overhead for two to three weeks. This is because the planet orbits around the Sun just as fast as it orbits around its own axis for that period. At certain points on Mercury’s surface an observer would be able to see the Sun rise about halfway， Mercury has so-called 'thermal seasons'。
and then rise again before setting again， and colder when it is further away. In the polar regions the Sun never rises above some crater bottoms， then set slightly， meaning they are in permanent darkness. At the other end of the scale there are two regions on Mercury’s equator。