“For thousands of years, planet Mercury has baffled astronomers. But now its secrets have been revealed. It’s a bizarre world unlike any other. This is a tough world.“
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and the smallest planet in our Solar System. Completing a full rotation in just 88 days, it is only about 40% the size of Earth, but still manages to boast the same surface gravity as Mars. It is one of only five planets that is visible without an instrument but, despite this, it is still a part of the Solar System surrounded by mystery.
This is in part because of how difficult it is to reach, requiring enormous changes in a spacecraft’s velocity on its journey. Only two programmes have ever visited Mercury, Mariner 10 in 1974 and 1975 and MESSENGER in 2004. But, with the BepiColombo spacecraft set to make its final arrival in 2025, why not take stock of everything we know currently with the best planet Mercury books at What We Reading?
The Secrets Of Mercury – Emma Carlson Berne
In The Secrets of Mercury, author Emma Carlson Berne offers readers a snappy dive into the closest planet to the sun. It is one of the best Mercury books for understanding how the planet has continually captured humanity’s imagination, what a day on the planet would look like and the biggest secrets scientists are still looking to discover.
With scientific insights, high-quality illustrations and photographs, The Secrets of Mercury is a quick resource perfect for all audiences.
Planet Mercury: From Pale Pink Dot To Dynamic World – David Rothery
Professor of Planetary Geosciences at the Open University, David Rothery offers readers an eye-opening and insightful guide to the first planet in our Solar System with his book, Planet Mercury: From Pale Pink Dot To Dynamic World.
Using the recently captured data from NASA’s MESSENGER mission, Rothery masterfully captures all the key findings using close-up images and data to explore what Mercury’s volcanic plains and giant thrust faults can tell us about the planet’s formation, how humanity has learned more and more about its nature and why so much of it remains a mystery to us.
The Voyage Of Mariner 10: Mission To Venus And Mercury – James A. Dunne And Eric Burgess
Between 1974 and 1975, the Mariner 10 spacecraft covered a distance of over a billion kilometres on a mission that saw it visit Venus once and Mercury three times. It was the first spacecraft to take photographs of the two planets and marked one of the most profound and exciting successes in space exploration.
The Voyage Of Mariner 10: Mission To Venus And Mercury runs readers through the significance of the mission, how it was achieved and what was learned through its journey with authors James A. Dunne and Eric Burgess detailing everything from its original conception to its most stunning imagery captured.
Check Out The Best Astronomy Books From 2022
The Inner Planets: Mercury, Venus, And Mars – Britannica Educational Publishing
Edited by Sherman Hollar, The Inner Planets: Mercury, Venus, And Mars is a comprehensive guide to the three other terrestrial planets in our Solar System. Because of their proximity to our home planet, Mercury, Venus and Mars have attracted interest from humanity over how they have come to be how they are.
The Inner Planets offers readers a concise guide into how the three smallest planets in the Solar System all differ from one another, their precise characteristics and what explorative efforts are being conducted by scientists to better understand the mysteries still behind them.
Mercury – William Sheehan
Mercury was the last of the five planets visible to the naked eye to be identified by ancient civilisations and, even today, it remains a complex and mysterious planet for scientists to fully understand. Through compelling insights and beautiful illustrations, William Sheehan brings readers up to date with all the latest discoveries behind Mercury.
Covering everything from volatile volcanic plains to alien water-ice deposits, they are able to understand the extent of the planet’s beauty, and how its own development can help us understand more about our own Earth.
The MESSENGER Mission To Mercury – Springer
Launched in 2004, NASA’s MESSENGER Mission was the seventh mission in the Discovery series and was intended to provide scientists with the most comprehensive study into the characteristics of the planet Mercury.
Edited by D.L. Domingue and C.T. Russell, The MESSENGER Mission to Mercury is the first book published that details all the inner workings and findings of the campaign. Featuring articles and insights from experts from every facet of the mission, it is one of the best Mercury books for those looking to further their understanding of MESSENGER and NASA’s other planetary missions, as well as what it has taught us about the nature of the closest body to the Sun.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
