Mercury
MERCURY: THE INTRODUCTION
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the solar system.Mercury is also known as evening or the morning star.
It is 8th in the mass among the eight planets of a solar system. Smallest among the planets of the solar system.
It is slightly larger than the moon the natural satellite of Earth. Mercury is even smaller than Ganymede the largest moon of Jupiter, and Titan the natural satellite of Saturn.
Its surface is similar to the surface of the moon which means, that there is little or no resurfacing activity on Mercury, similar to the moon. Its surface has craters, ridges, and dead-looking rocks.
Mercury is the least inclined planet to its Orbit around the Sun.
Mercury is the fastest planet traveling in space with a velocity of 47km/h.
It rotates on its axis in 59 days, while it revolves around the sun in 88 days
Mercury has a density equal to 5.43 g/cm^3.
It can be seen in the evening or in the early morning.
Mercury has no moon.
Most people can not see Mercury in their life. Why?
It rises and sets within two hours of sunrise or sunset. Most of the people in their life never see Mercury because it can never be observed late at night. One of these was Copernicus himself, who gave the heliocentric theory of the solar system. He could never see Mercury. So, you can see Mercury only if you observe the sky in the evening or early morning. In the twilight and during down Sun fail to overshadow the tiny Mercury.
Mercury transit
One can see Mercury while it passes through the face of the Sun, an event that happens thirteen times a century. This event is called Mercury transit. The last transit of Mercury occurred on 11 November 2019.
It is composed of crust, mantle, and core. Its core contributes to 61% of its mass, Earth's core contributes only 16 % of its mass. It is mainly composed of nickel, iron, and silicon.
Mercury has no atmosphere or it has a very thin exosphere. In its atmosphere, no one can breathe. Its atmosphere consists of oxygen, hydrogen, helium, sodium, and potassium.
Mercury has a high range of diurnal temperature
Mercury has 167 degrees Celsius surface temperature. Its day temperature range to 437 degrees Celsius and its night temperature range to -170 degrees Celsius It experiences the greatest temperature variation among the planets as its atmosphere can not hold surface heat being very thin.
MERCURY THE PLANET WITH DOUBLE SUNRISE
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| Mercury sunrise(representational image only) |
At its pole Sun never rises more than 2.1 arcminute above the horizon, this is due to the fact that mercury is inclined only 7 degrees to its elliptical Orbit. It has a gravity of about 3.7m/s only. Its poles are covered by ice similar to the Icecap of Mars. It has craters, created by meteorites bombardment on its surface million years ago. In past, it may have been volcanoes that have created a smooth surface on Mercury. Its craters are filled with ice or lava.
Can you survive on Mercury?
It is a terrestrial planet. But, it is not possible to survive on Mercury.
The first thing is that it is very close to the sun.
It has a very thin atmosphere similar to the exosphere of Earth.
You cannot breathe there.
It has a surface temperature of 167 degrees Celsius.
It has a high range of diurnal temperature which makes survival
even more difficult.
Reference
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/overview/
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