Pretty much every elementary school student on Earth learns the names and order of the planets in our solar system. They label worksheets, color activity sheets, and build models. We teach them songs and mnemonic devices to help them remember the order of the planets by their distance from the Sun. But when we see the planets neatly lined up, we don’t get a clear picture of the distances between them. And as a CGP Grey video illustrates, one of the most interesting things about the distances between planets isn’t how far apart they are from each other, but how close they all are to Mercury. Or at least, how close they are to Mercury most of the time. The distances between the planets vary due to the speed and shape of their orbits. But as Grey’s “You Learned the Solar System Wrong” video illustrates, the planet that is closest to every other planet most often is Mercury. Yep, every single planet in our solar system. It feels counterintuitive, but the math checks out. Mercury, the “mostest closest” planet “Planets are not humans queuing for coffee but rather spheroids scattered in space, always in motion,” says CGP Grey. “Not in simple circles, either, but ellipses at untidy angles.” He explains that because of differences in their orbits, there’s no clear answer to the question of which planet is closest to another, because it changes all the time. The better question is, “Which planet is closest most often?” Planets don’t actually line up like this. Photo credit: Canva Mercury. It’s always Mercury. And it comes down to its small orbit. “Mercury’s small orbit means he never goes as far away as the other planets with their bigger orbits,” CGP Grey says. “The orbital math that shows Mercury is the mostest closest to Jupiter is the same for all the planets and everything that orbits the Sun.” Mercury is the social butterfly of planets People were delighted to learn this fun fact and shared some clever comments: “Mercury must be a really good friend, he’s got so many friends but he makes time for them all.” “This is why Mercury was the messenger, he was able to reach every God.” “Mercury is that one kid who has ties with the seniors.” “All other planets are in some toxic relationship: constantly shifting between being super intimate and escaping as far as they can from each other. And Mercury is that one guy who’s not very close, but always within reach, if you ever need him.” “Mercury is like that kid in school who knows EVERYone.” It’s impossible to fit all the planets into one image with their proper distances. Photo credit: Canva “Mercury is just the little brother that everyone loves.” “This is so delightfully appropriate for the planet named after the messenger of the gods. Who else can pass notes between them better but the mostest closest?” “Mercury is that hot (literally) playboy who steals everybody’s heart, from girls to guys, young to old.” Mercury does seem to get around, doesn’t it? It’s even the closest to Pluto, the poor, no-longer-a-planet outcast of our solar system. Mercury is special. – Photo credit: Image credit: Canva More fun facts about Mercury It is rather wee. When Pluto was downgraded, Mercury claimed the title of smallest planet. It’s approximately one-third the size of Earth. It is extreme. Daytime temperatures can reach 800 degrees Fahrenheit (430 degrees Celsius), and nighttime temperatures can drop to negative 290 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 180 degrees Celsius). A 1,000-degree swing is wild. It has major magnetic tornadoes. According to NASA, “Though Mercury’s magnetic field at the surface has just 1% the strength of Earth’s, it interacts with the magnetic field of the solar wind to sometimes create intense magnetic tornadoes that funnel the fast, hot solar wind plasma down to the surface of the planet.” It’s so metal. Mercury has a metallic core that takes up about 85% of its radius. It is moonless. Mercury and Venus have no moons. Every other planet in our solar system has at least one. Mercury, the “mostest closest” of all the planets, truly is special. Follow CGP Grey on YouTube for more fun educational videos. The post Video demonstrates that Mercury is the closest planet to every other planet in the solar system appeared first on Upworthy.