naure.com
SpaceSurprise 4/5Difficulty 2/5Reviewed on September 15, 2026

A year on Mercury lasts only eighty-eight Earth days.

Why it is true

Being the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury completes its orbit at an extraordinary speed, resulting in the shortest year in the entire solar system, although its days are unusually long.

Source: Astronomy

Would you rather be asked first?

This is the reading side of the site, so the answer is in the sentence above — that is the whole point of it. Test yourself works the other way round: the question comes on its own, and the fact and the explanation only appear once you have answered.

Test yourself →10-question challenge

Related facts

More in Space

See all →