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 Nearest Thing to Heaven by Alan Galbraith, and was the one that became the hit. This single followed his previous release, the Bernie Allen arranged "Helena", which even though a gold disc entry, wasn't a hit. The September 7, 1974 issue of "Billboard" recorded the song at #10, just behind George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby" at #9 and with Paper Lace's "The Night Chicago Died" at #1. That was the highest position it got to. The song stayed in the charts for 9 weeks. Walters didn't have any more chart hits after that. The Nearest Thing to Heaven The Nearest Thing To Heaven was