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
The empire on which the sun never sets the sun encircles.” Mesopotamian texts contemporary to Sargon of Akkad (c. 2334 – 2279 BC) proclaim that this king ruled “all the lands from sunrise to sunset.” In the early 16th century, the phrase, ""el imperio en el que nunca se pone el sol"" ("the empire on which the sun never sets") originated with a remark made by Fray Francisco de Ugalde to Charles I, who as king of Spain and as Holy Roman Emperor by the name of Charles V, had an empire, which included many territories in Europe, islands in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, cities in North Africa