Mercury is a wonderful choice for a travel destination. You won't find another planet closer to the sun. Its mean distance from the sun is 58 million kilometers (36 million miles). The naked eye on Earth cannot spot the planet, because not only does it hide behind the sun's glare. It is also incapable of reflecting sunlight well, because of its porous, rough and dark-colored rocky surface. In some ways Mercury favors Earth. Mercury's mean density is approximately equal to that of the Earth even though its mass is 5.5% of Earth's and its diameter is only 38% of Earth's. With a diameter of 3,031 miles, Mercury is surprisingly dense. Its main contributing factor of density is its unusually huge iron core. Mercury's rotating time is 58.7 days, which adds up to approximately 1.5 rotations per revolution. Its orbit consists of 88 Earth days.

Mercury has a very tiny thin atmosphere that contains sodium and potassium. These two elements are found in salt and bananas. Perhaps, if you licked a cloud it would taste like a salty banana. Mercury's transient atmosphere causes extremely hot days and extraordinary cold nights. You would think Mercury is constantly heated because of its very short distance from the Sun. Instead, temperatures fluctuate from 750 degrees Fahrenheit to negative 320 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once you step off our spaceship, at our destination you can easily observe the rocks and metal that mainly make up Mercury. You might think you are on the moon because of Mercury's "crater-filled" surface. Its scarred surface owns telltale marks of hits long ago. It's no wonder that Mercury has the highest record for body bombardment by asteroids.

So buckle up and hold onto your seat in case of asteroids, and don't forget to put on sunglasses and some really heavy-duty sunblock, if you wish to go to Mercury.