Mercury (planet) diagram on the right illustrates the effects of the eccentricity, showing Mercury's orbit overlaid with a circular orbit having the same semi-major axis. Mercury's higher velocity when it is near perihelion is clear from the greater distance it covers in each 5-day interval. In the diagram the varying distance of Mercury to the Sun is represented by the size of the planet, which is inversely proportional to Mercury's distance from the Sun. This varying distance to the Sun leads to Mercury's surface being flexed by tidal bulges raised by the Sun that are about 17 times stronger than the Moon's
Return to the Lost Planet Return to the Lost Planet Return to the Lost Planet is a 1954 juvenile science fiction novel by Angus MacVicar, published by Burke, London. It is the second of the Lost Planet series, which was adapted for radio and television. There are six novels in the Lost Planet series: "The Lost Planet" (1953), "Return to the Lost Planet" (1954), "Secret of the Lost Planet" (1955), "Red Fire on the Lost Planet" (1959), "Peril on the Lost Planet" (1960) and "Space Agent from the Lost Planet". It was the first science fiction series ever translated into Hebrew and had considerable impact