Mercury will be viewable in the sky starting tonight, Feb. 11, until Feb. 21 but it will not look like the planet you learned about in school. Mercury will instead look like a small, pink dot, which can be seen by using binoculars or a small telescope according to reports by Space.com.
Click here to watch Mercury live on Space.com.
Mercury in fact is not pink, but it will appear so starting after sunset thanks to the sun's "rosy light" according to Space.com. The planet will appear right below the expected crescent moon, which should help people spot the planet easier.
Mars will also reportedly be visible in the sky, right below Mercury completing what is known as a celestial trifecta. The two planets will be pretty close together for the next couple of days or so, providing more than one opportunity for people to view the planets outside or through Space.com's live stream.
Mercury is slightly larger than Earth's moon, and is reportedly three times closer to the sun than our planet. By spinning on its axis slowly, Mercury completes a rotation just three times every two Mercury years according to NBC News.
Since the planet is so close to the sun, the surface of Mercury can reach up to 840 degrees Fahrenheit, or 450 degrees Celsius. Without an atmosphere to trap heat, night temperatures tend to drop a staggering 275 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 170 degrees Celsius according to Space.com.
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A NASA Messenger spacecraft recently discovered pockets of ice at Mercury's North Pole, which was predicted by scientists before the mission. Studies conducted before the Messenger went up concluded that frozen water would be located on the planet in areas hidden by the sun's heat. The mission confirmed these studies.
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