All About Mercury
By Madison Nef
Now that
Pluto is no longer classified as a planet, Mercury is the smallest planet in the
solar system. Mercury has an extremely rocky surface with an iron core. The
iron core in Mercury is relatively large, compared to other rocky planets like
Earth and Mars. This makes Mercury's mass very high compared to its relatively
tiny size. It’s a barren planet covered with craters from the impacts of
asteroids and other objects, and looks quite similar to our own Earth’s moon.
Mercury has virtually no atmosphere and rotates very slowly in relationship to the sun. A single day on Mercury is as long as almost 60 Earth days. As a result of its long day and little atmosphere, Mercury has some wild extremes in temperature. The side facing the sun is incredibly hot (800 degrees F), while the side away from the sun is super cold (-300 degrees F).
Mercury has virtually no atmosphere and rotates very slowly in relationship to the sun. A single day on Mercury is as long as almost 60 Earth days. As a result of its long day and little atmosphere, Mercury has some wild extremes in temperature. The side facing the sun is incredibly hot (800 degrees F), while the side away from the sun is super cold (-300 degrees F).
How does Mercury differ from Earth?
Mercury is much smaller than Earth. It's actually a lot closer to the size of Earth's moon… yet another similarity between the moon and Mercury! It has a shorter year, but a much longer day. There is absolutely no air to breathe and the temperature changes wildly each day. Mercury is similar in that it has a hard rocky surface like Earth's. You could walk around on Mercury; but only if you had a space suit and could take the extreme temperatures.
There is evidence that the planet Mercury has been known since 3000 BC by civilizations such as the Sumerians and Babylonians. Galileo was the first to observe Mercury by telescope in the early 1600's… but it was thought to have been known about long before then.
Mercury is much smaller than Earth. It's actually a lot closer to the size of Earth's moon… yet another similarity between the moon and Mercury! It has a shorter year, but a much longer day. There is absolutely no air to breathe and the temperature changes wildly each day. Mercury is similar in that it has a hard rocky surface like Earth's. You could walk around on Mercury; but only if you had a space suit and could take the extreme temperatures.
There is evidence that the planet Mercury has been known since 3000 BC by civilizations such as the Sumerians and Babylonians. Galileo was the first to observe Mercury by telescope in the early 1600's… but it was thought to have been known about long before then.
Several
other astronomers since then have added to our knowledge about the planet.
Since Mercury is close to the Sun, it is very difficult to send a space craft to explore the planet. The gravity from the sun is constantly pulling on the space craft causing the ship to need lots of fuel in order to stop or slow down at Mercury. There have been two space probes sent to Mercury. The first was Mariner 10 in 1975. Mariner 10 brought us the first close up pictures of Mercury and discovered that the planet had a magnetic field. The second space probe is Messenger. Messenger reached Mercury in 2009. Scientists will learn a lot more about Mercury from this drone, which is still up there today, in the coming years.
Since Mercury is close to the Sun, it is very difficult to send a space craft to explore the planet. The gravity from the sun is constantly pulling on the space craft causing the ship to need lots of fuel in order to stop or slow down at Mercury. There have been two space probes sent to Mercury. The first was Mariner 10 in 1975. Mariner 10 brought us the first close up pictures of Mercury and discovered that the planet had a magnetic field. The second space probe is Messenger. Messenger reached Mercury in 2009. Scientists will learn a lot more about Mercury from this drone, which is still up there today, in the coming years.
Mercury is very
tough to study from Earth because it is inside the Earth's orbit. This means
that when you try to look at Mercury, you are also looking at the Sun. The
bright light of the Sun makes it nearly impossible to see Mercury… because of
this, Mercury is best seen right after the Sun sets or just before it rises.
I hope you
enjoyed this paper and learned a little something about Mercury in it. I know
that I did.
Maddie
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