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The element Mercury was known to ancient Chinese and Hindus before 2000 BC and was found in tubes in Egyptian tombs dated from 1500 BC It was used to format amalgams of other metals around 500 BC.

The planet Mercury has been known since ancient times. Until the mid-1960's, astronomers believed that Mercury rotated once every 88 Earth days, the same time the planet takes to go around the sun. If Mercury did this, one side of the planet would always face the sun and the other side would always be dark. However, radar studies conducted in 1965 showed that the planet rotates once in about 59 days. The only spacecraft to come close to Mercury was Mariner 10 from 1974 to 1975, which was only able to map 40%-45% of the planet's surface.

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13y ago

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