The planet Mercury is shrinking, but it is most certainly in no hurry.

Images from NASA indicate that the planet, which is the smallest one in the solar system, is now 8 miles smaller in diameter today than it was more than three billion years ago. The findings were published in Nature Geoscience, according to the LA Times.

According to reports, the reason behind the smaller size is based on temperature since the planet is cooling. The planet is the closest one of all to the sun and, at 800 degrees Fahrenheit, is so hot that humans would never be able to go there anytime in the near future.

Scientsts have compared the shrinking of the planet to the way a raisin would shrink.

"We see the landscape literally crumpling up," William McKinnon, a professor at Washington University, said to National Geographic. "Massive slabs of rock are sliding over one another."

"Determining the extent to which Mercury contracted is key to understanding the planet's thermal, tectonic and volcanic history," according to the study's authors, who include Paul Byrne.

In other space-related news as of late, it was reported last month that NASA found 715 new planets that were circling around 305 stars. The ones found outside of the solar system have tended to be much smaller in size while the ones that were discovered in our galaxy have often been much larger than our very own planet Earth. Who knows how many planets scientists will be able to discover in the coming years and decades as technology continues to improve.

What do you think about the findings regarding the size of Mercury? Do you think it really matters or makes any difference, or is it just a random but interesting fact about the solar system we live in? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.