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
55 Cancri f IAU announced the winning name was Harriot for this planet. The winning name was submitted by the Royal Netherlands Association for Meteorology and Astronomy of the Netherlands. It honors the astronomer Thomas Harriot. The initial presentation of this planet occurred at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in April 2005, however it was another two and a half years before the planet was to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. It is the first known planet outside our solar system to spend its entire orbit within what astronomers call the "habitable zone". Furthermore, its discovery made 55 Cancri the