Planet Mercury

Planet Mercury: Facts About the Planet Closest to the Sun

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. It orbits the sun faster than a variety of other planets, which is why the Romans named it after their swift messenger god.

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MERCURY QUALITIES

Due to its proximity to the sun, Mercury's surface temperature can reach a scorching 840 degrees Fahrenheit (450 degrees Celsius). However, since this planet lacks a significant atmosphere to retain heat, nighttime temperatures can drop to as low as -275 F (-170 C), resulting in a temperature variation of over 1,100 degrees F (600 degrees C), the most extreme in the solar system.

Mercury is the smallest planet, being only slightly larger than Earth's moon. Because it has no substantial atmosphere to mitigate impacts, the planet's surface is marked with craters. Approximately 4 billion years ago, an asteroid about 60 miles (100 kilometers) wide struck Mercury with an impact equivalent to 1 trillion 1-megaton bombs, creating a massive impact crater roughly 960 miles (1,550 km) wide. This crater, known as the Caloris Basin, is large enough to encompass the entire state of Texas. Another significant impact may have caused the planet's unusual tilt.

Despite Mercury's closeness to the sun, in 2012, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft discovered water ice in the craters near its north pole, where areas may be permanently shielded from the sun's heat. The south pole may also harbor icy pockets, but MESSENGER's orbit did not allow scientists to investigate that region. Comets or meteoroids may have delivered ice there, or water vapor may have outgassed from the planet's interior and subsequently frozen at the poles.

As though Mercury isn't sufficiently little, it shrank in its past as well as is proceeding to recoil today. Deeply. As the center cools, it sets, diminishing the planet's volume and making it shrivel. The interaction folded the surface, making flap molded scarps or precipices, around many miles long and taking off up to a mile high, as well as Mercury's "Incredible Valley," which at around 620 miles in length, 250 miles wide and 2 miles down (1,000 by 400 by 3.2 km) is bigger than Arizona's popular Grand Canyon and more profound than the Great Rift Valley in East Africa.

"The youthful age of the little scarps implies that Mercury joins Earth as a structurally dynamic planet with new blames probably shaping today as Mercury's inside proceeds to cool and the planet contracts," Tom Watters, Smithsonian senior researcher at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., said in an articulation.

To be sure, a 2016 investigation of bluffs on Mercury's surface recommended the planet might in any case thunder with quakes, or "Mercuryquakes." This could imply that Earth isn't the main structurally dynamic planet, the creators of the exploration said.

Moreover, before, Mercury's surface was continually reshaped by volcanic movement. Notwithstanding, another 2016 review proposed Mercury's spring of gushing lava emissions probably finished around 3.5 billion years prior.

Mercury ranks as the second densest planet following Earth, featuring a massive metallic core that spans approximately 2,200 to 2,400 miles (3,600 to 3,800 km) in diameter, which constitutes about 75% of the planet's overall width. In contrast, the outer shell of Mercury is merely 300 to 400 miles (500 to 600 km) thick. The planet's complex and unpredictable characteristics have puzzled scientists for many years.

A completely unexpected finding by Mariner 10 revealed that Mercury possesses a magnetic field. Remarkably, Mercury takes 59 days to complete a rotation and is so small—about one-third the size of Earth—that its core should have solidified long ago.

"Remarkably, we assumed it would function similarly," stated Christopher Russell, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, in a statement.

An unusual interior structure could help explain the differences in Mercury's magnetic field compared to that of Earth. Observations from MESSENGER indicated that the planet's magnetic field is three times stronger at its northern hemisphere than at its southern counterpart. Russell co-authored a model suggesting that Mercury's iron core may be transitioning from liquid to solid at the outer boundary of the core rather than from the inside.

"It resembles a snowstorm where the snow forms at the top of the cloud, in the center of the cloud, and at the bottom of the cloud as well," Russell explained. "Our study of Mercury's magnetic field indicates that iron is precipitating throughout this liquid, which is driving Mercury's magnetic field."

The 2007 discovery through Earth-based radar observations that Mercury's core may still be liquid could help clarify its magnetism, although the solar wind may play a role in diminishing the planet's magnetic field.

Despite Mercury's magnetic field being only 1% the strength of Earth's, it remains highly dynamic. The magnetic field interacts with the solar wind—the stream of charged particles emitted by the sun—periodically affecting Mercury. making strong attractive cyclones that channel the quick, sweltering plasma of the sun powered breeze down to the planet's surface.

Rather than a significant environment, Mercury has a super slight "exosphere" comprised of iotas launched its surface by sun based radiation, the sunlight based breeze and micrometeoroid impacts. These rapidly escape into space, shaping a tail of particles.

One 2016 review recommended that Mercury's surface highlights can commonly be separated into two gatherings - one comprising of more established material that liquefied at higher tensions at the center mantle limit, and the other of more up to date material that framed nearer to Mercury's surface. One more 2016 investigation discovered that the dull tone of Mercury's surface is because of carbon. This carbon wasn't stored by affecting comets, as certain analysts thought - all things being equal, it very well might be a remainder of the planet's early stage hull.

Mercury's Orbital Characteristics

Mercury orbits the sun every 88 Earth days, traveling through space at nearly 112,000 mph (180,000 km/h), making it faster than any other planet. Its elliptical orbit is highly eccentric, bringing Mercury as close as 29 million miles (47 million km) and as far as 43 million miles (70 million km) from the sun. If one were to stand on Mercury when it is at its closest point to the sun, it would appear nearly three times larger than it does from Earth.

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and possesses a thin atmosphere, lacking atmospheric pressure and experiencing extremely high temperatures. Explore the planet.

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and has a sparse atmosphere, no atmospheric pressure, and very high temperatures. Explore the planet. (Image: © Karl Tate, SPACE.com)

Interestingly, due to Mercury's highly elliptical orbit and the approximately 59 Earth days it takes to rotate on its axis, when standing on the scorching surface of the planet, the sun appears to rise briefly, set, and rise again before moving across the sky. At sunset, the sun seems to set, rise again momentarily, and then set once more.

In 2016, a notable transit of Mercury occurred, during which the planet crossed the face of the sun. This transit may have revealed insights about its thin atmosphere, aided in the search for planets around other stars, and helped NASA refine some of its instruments.

Composition and Structure:

Atmospheric Composition (by volume):

According to NASA, Mercury's atmosphere is described as a "surface-bound exosphere, essentially a vacuum." It consists of 42% oxygen, 29% sodium, 22% hydrogen, 6% helium, 0.5% potassium, with possible trace amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, xenon, krypton, and neon.

Attractive field: Roughly 1% the strength of Earth's.

Inward design: Iron center around 2,200 to 2,400 miles (3,600 to 3,800 km) wide. External silicate shell around 300 to 400 miles (500 to 600 km) thick.

Circle and revolution

Normal separation from the sun: 35,983,095 miles (57,909,175 km). By examination: 0.38 Earth's separation from the sun.

Perihelion (nearest way to deal with sun): 28,580,000 miles (46,000,000 km). By correlation: 0.313 times that of Earth

Aphelion (farthest separation from sun): 43,380,000 miles (69,820,000 km). By examination: 0.459 times that of Earth

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Length of day: 58.646 Earth-days. Cool.

Planet Mercury VIDEO