Mercury

Page 1 of 3

Jump to: General Information Mercury's Swift Movements Observing Mercury About the Rock Flights to Mercury

General Information Mercury is best known as the closest planet to the sun. Mercurys mean distance from the sun is 36 million miles (57.9 million km) which is about half the distance from the sun to Venus. The orbit of Mercury is elliptical, with an eccentricity of 0.2056, zero being a perfect circle. The Earths own eccentricity is only 0.0167, much more circular than Mercury's. Mercurys orbital distance varies from 28.6 million miles (46 million km) to 43.4 million miles (69.8 million km). Mercury has a diameter of 3,031 miles (57.9 km) which is two-fifths of Earths diameter.

Mercury's Swift Movements Mercury moves faster than any other planet around the sun. Mercury travels 47.87 kilometers per second compared to Earths speed 29.79 kilometers per second. The reason why Mercury is named after the swift messenger of the Greek/Roman Gods because Mercury travels so fast. One time around the sun for Mercury is only This picture of Mercury was made by taking a lot o 88 earth-days, only about 3 months only. separate pictures of a specific region of Mercury th Astronomers up to 1965, thought that Mercury only rotated once in together. This mosaic was taken of Mercury by the 10. It is made up of 48 images taken at 42 every 88 earth-days, which is the same time it takes to go around the Mariner second intervals during the 13 minutes that the Ma 10 was approaching Mercury. sun once. That would mean that one side of Mercury would always face the sun. As Mercury moves around the sun, Mercury would also rotate at the same rate so that the side that was facing the sun would catch up to the sun that shifted because of the change in position of Mercury. The side that would always face the sun be extremely hot, while the other side would be very dark and very cold. In 1965 they found out that Mercury rotates once every 59 earth-days. They found out by bouncing radar beams off of Mercury. The signals returned from one side of Mercury were different from another side. They measured and analyzed the movements of the different sides of Mercury and found that Mercury rotated once every 59 earth-days. So Mercury did not have one sizzling hot side and one cold dark side. Mercury rotates on its axis at a tilt of about 0.1 degrees.

http://library.thinkquest.org/25097/graphics/g_merc.htm

2/28/2011

Mercury Observing Mercury Mercury is a very hard object to see with the naked eye from Earth because it is obscured by the sun. Although, at certain times in the year Mercury can be seen low in the western sky just after sunset. At other times, Mercury can also be seen low in the eastern sky prior to sunrise. Mercury has phases like the Moon that can be seen with a telescope. It will go from crescents to gibbous to a full Mercury. They come from having only parts or all of Mercurys lit up side be visible to the Earth depending on the Earth point to view.

Page 2 of 3

This is also a mosiac of Mercury taken by the Mar 10, but this is the other side when the Mariner was retreating from Mercury.

About the Rock The core of Mercury is appears to be made of iron and other heavy elements. When the Mariner 10 flew by, it detected a magnetic field which indicates a large iron core like the Earth. On the outside, Mercury is very much like our moon. It has little air or atmosphere, small, gray, reflects only 6% of the light it receives, craters, steep cliffs, and flat plains. The craters were caused by comets and meteorites colliding with the planet. Without a thick atmosphere to slow down and burn up incoming comets and meteoroids, Mercury and the moon are battered pieces of rock. The density of Mercury is only slightly smaller than Earth, at 5427 kg per cube meter compared to Earths density which is 5520 kg per cube meter. The similar densities indicate that Earth and Mercury are made of similar materials. Mercury has a smaller mass than Earth so Mercurys surface gravity only a third as strong as the Earth's. (To learn why mass matters, see: Universal Laws of Gravity) Since Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, it gets very hot on Mercury. Temperatures skyrocket to 801 Fahrenheit (427 C) and dive to -279F (-173C) at night. The suns rays are 7 times stronger on Mercury and the sun seems 2 times bigger in Mercurys sky. That could cause one bad sunburn! Mercury doesnt have enough gases to reduce the heat and light it receives from the sun. Also because of the lack of atmosphere, the Mercurial sky is black and the stars can be seen in broad daylight. The little atmosphere that Mercury does have consists of small This is an artist's conception of the Mariner 10. Th amounts of helium, hydrogen, oxygen and sodium. Combined, the spacecraft to study Mercury upclose. It used its so panels as sails to catch the faint force generated b little amount of gases on Mercury make a possible atmospheric sunlight to control the crafts roll rate. It used many pressure of 0.00000000003 pounds per square inch (or energy conserving techniques to complete a fly Venus and two fly-bys of Mercury. approximately 10^-10 Pascals).

Flights to Mercury The only closeup studies done on Mercury are have been the U.S.A.'s Mariner 10 mission. The Mariner 10 flew within 460 miles (740 km) of Mercury on March 29, 1974. It took detailed pictures of the planet and detected the magnetic field of Mercury. The Mariner 10 also swept past it on Sept. 24, 1974 and March 16, 1975. This spacecraft also studied Venus, and was the first spacecraft to study two planets. Continue on to Venus....

http://library.thinkquest.org/25097/graphics/g_merc.htm

2/28/2011

Mercury

Page 3 of 3

http://library.thinkquest.org/25097/graphics/g_merc.htm

2/28/2011