It takes Mercury about 59 Earth days to spin once on its axis (the rotation period), and about 88 Earth days to complete one orbit about the Sun. However, the length of the day on Mercury (sunrise to sunrise) is 176 Earth days. How can this happen? The figure shows the path of Mercury about the Sun with a mark indicating the same spot on the surface of the planet at different times in the orbit. A point initially pointing toward the Sun will point in the same direction after one rotation (59 days or 2/3 of the orbital period), but that point will no longer be directed toward the Sun. It takes three rotations of the planet during two orbits of the planet about the Sun, or 88 x 2=176 days, for the mark to get back to the same position.