Mars vs. Mercury Ever wonder how far away Mars is from Earth? How far Mercury is from the sun? Mars has a nickname that is unique to it, the red planet. Mercury frankly doesn't have a fun nickname, however it is the smallest planet in the solar system. Do you ever wonder what some similarities and differences are between Mars and Mercury? Mars and Mercury have many things in common with each other. For instance each one is considered an inner planet. Inner planets are closer to the sun and have rocky surfaces, and are smaller than the outer planets. Mercury and Mars have ice caps at the top of each. Mars' ice caps were found more recently then Mercury's ice caps. Some thing that every planet has in common is how they got their names. Each
