Featured Article: This Is Recommended For New Users 
Edit
| Mercury | |
|---|---|
| |
| Number of Sattelites | None |
| Atmospheric Makeup | 41.5% molecular oxygen 29% sodium 22% hydrogen 6% helium 0.48% potassium |
| Distance from Sun | 48 million miles (from Earth)
57.91 million km (from The Sun) |
| Diameter | 3032 miles 4879 kilometers |
| Volume | 6.083×1010 km3
0.056 Earths |
| Axial tilt | 2.11 degrees |
| Orbit | 88 Earth days |
| Position in Solar System | First planet from Sun |
| Surface Features | Cratered surface |
| Albedo | (geometric) 0.142 (bond) 0.068 |
| Aphelion | 43.64 million miles |
| Perihelion | 28.75 million miles |
| Mass of Planet | 3.302 x 10^23 kg |
| Escape Velocity | 4.25 kilometers/second |
Mercury is the first planet from the Sun. It is the smallest planet in the Solar System, being only just shy of more than 3000 miles in diameter. In fact, Ganymede, the largest moon in the Solar System, and of Jupiter, is larger than this planet. Mercury has an extremely thin atmosphere. So thin, in fact, there is only just more than one metric ton of air in the atmosphere (see more in Atmosphere). Mercury has the largest temperature range of any planet in the Solar System. Its day temperature can reach more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit and less than -290 degrees Fahrenheit. Mercury can make one orbit in eighty-eight Earthen days. Around it are the man-made satellites, MESSENGER and Mariner 10.
FormationEdit
The gas giants of the Solar System became gaseous, because they had less accretion acting on the gases that created the planet. Instead, because the rocky planets, including Mercury, were closer to the Sun, the nebula accreted faster. Since the heat was so intense near the Sun, the planet dried up like a raisin and shrunk to the size that we know of today. This is different from the other cases of the formation of different celestial bodies in the Solar System, including the other rocky planets.
AtmosphereEdit
As you saw in the introduction, Mercury only has 2200 pounds of atmosphere. It is made up of about forty percent oxygen, about twenty percent sodium, about twenty two percent hydrogen, and about ten percent helium. The last one percent is made up of trace gases. The atmosphere of Mercury is produced from the heat within the planet.
SurfaceEdit
The surface of Mercury is heavily cratered. The best known of these craters is the Caloris Basin, which is about one thousand miles in width. Ancient volcanoes show signs that volcanism was once present on this planet. The rest of the surface include cliffs and plains that became solid, which is a process called solidification. This solidification created these volcanoes.
StructureEdit
Internal Structure of Mercury -
1. Crust - 100-300 km thick
2. Mantle - 600 km thick
3. Core - 1,800 km radius
The core is thought to consist of iron, which happened due to the amount of accretion the nebula received when it created the Solar System. Around that is a silicate mantle, where the convection currents occur, shifting tectonic plates. The last is the crust, which suffers from asteroid impacts and volcanism.
ObservationEdit
Mercury can be easily seen during twilight or just after the sunset. The visibility cannot remain for long due to its speedy orbit around the Sun. The elongation, or the point at which a celestial object is at its farthest point from a solar remnant, of Mercury from the Sun is the best time to view it, though this event only occurs seven times a year.
PicturesEdit
Mercury • Venus • Earth • Mars • Jupiter • Saturn • Uranus • Neptune Dwarf Planets |
