Where has water ice been found on Mercury?

In permanently shadowed polar craters

Planet Mercury Quiz: Ice in Craters and Scorching Days

This planet Mercury quiz circles the smallest planet, closest to the Sun. Play 10 interactive questions on days hot enough to melt lead, freezing nights, almost no atmosphere, an 88-day year, a solar day lasting about 176 Earth days, ice hiding in shadowed polar craters confirmed by MESSENGER, a large iron core and the BepiColombo mission.

Start Planet Mercury Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Rank
What is Mercury's position from the Sun?
Size
How does Mercury rank in size among planets?
Day
How hot can Mercury's daytime surface get?
Night
What happens at night?
Air
What kind of atmosphere does Mercury have?
Year
How long is Mercury's year?
SolarDay
How long is a full day from sunrise to sunrise?
Ice
Where has water ice been found on Mercury?
Mission
Which spacecraft confirmed the ice?
Next
Which European-Japanese mission was sent to Mercury?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What is Mercury's position from the Sun?
Answer: First, the closest
It orbits fastest.
Q2: How does Mercury rank in size among planets?
Answer: The smallest
Pluto is no longer a planet.
Q3: How hot can Mercury's daytime surface get?
Answer: Around 430 C
Hot enough to melt lead.
Q4: What happens at night?
Answer: It becomes extremely cold
Little air holds heat.
Q5: What kind of atmosphere does Mercury have?
Answer: Almost none
A thin exosphere exists.
Q6: How long is Mercury's year?
Answer: About 88 Earth days
It races around the Sun.
Q7: How long is a full day from sunrise to sunrise?
Answer: About 176 Earth days
Slow spin and fast orbit combine.
Q8: Where has water ice been found on Mercury?
Answer: In permanently shadowed polar craters
Sunlight never reaches there.
Q9: Which spacecraft confirmed the ice?
Answer: MESSENGER
It orbited Mercury from 2011.
Q10: Which European-Japanese mission was sent to Mercury?
Answer: BepiColombo
It launched in 2018.

Fire and Ice Near the Sun

Mercury is the smallest planet and the closest to the Sun. Its year lasts about 88 Earth days, but it spins slowly, so a full day from one sunrise to the next lasts about 176 Earth days. With almost no atmosphere to hold heat, daytime temperatures reach around 430 C while nights become extremely cold.

Surprisingly, Mercury holds water ice. Near its poles, the floors of some craters are permanently shadowed and never see sunlight, staying cold enough to keep ice. NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, which orbited Mercury from 2011, confirmed the ice using several instruments.

Mercury has a large iron core taking up much of its interior, and its surface is covered in craters and long cliffs formed as the planet cooled and shrank. BepiColombo, a joint European and Japanese mission launched in 2018, was sent to study it in more detail.

What This Quiz Teaches

Space fans will enjoy these questions.

Where Mercury is
How hot and cold it gets
How long its days are
Where ice hides
Which missions studied it

Did You Know?

Mercury has no moons.
It is hard to see near sunrise and sunset.
Its craters are named after artists.
Mariner 10 visited in the 1970s.
Its orbit is quite elliptical.