Mercury (planet) Mercury (planet) Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in the Solar System. Its orbital period around the Sun of 87.97 days is the shortest of all the planets in the Solar System. It is named after the Roman deity Mercury, the messenger of the gods. Like Venus, Mercury orbits the Sun within Earth's orbit as an "inferior planet", and never exceeds 28° away from the Sun. When viewed from Earth, this proximity to the Sun means the planet can only be seen near the western or eastern horizon during the early evening or early morning. At this time it
The Sun Saboteurs The action is mostly in a minor key, and the entire feel is both sad and bitterly cynical." The Sun Saboteurs The Sun Saboteurs is a 1961 science fiction novel by American writer Damon Knight. Its topic is expatriate Earthmen living on an alien planet, and their daily hardships in dealing with their status as a minority group among aliens. The story first appeared in 1955 in the form of a novella, entitled "The Earth Quarter", in "If" magazine . An expanded version was published by Ace in 1961, bound dos-à-dos with G. McDonald Wallis's "The Light of Lilith" as