Smallest Planet in the solar system (slightly larger than Earth’s moon)
· Closest planet to the sun
· One day on Mercury (the time it takes for Mercury to rotate or spin once) takes 59 Earth days. Mercury makes a complete orbit around the sun (a year in Mercury time) in just 88 Earth days.
· Mercury is a rocky planet, also known as a terrestrial planet. Mercury has a solid, cratered surface, much like Earth's moon.
· Mercury's thin atmosphere, or exosphere, is composed mostly of oxygen (O2), sodium (Na), hydrogen (H2), helium (He), and potassium (K). Atoms that are blasted off the surface by the solar wind and micrometeoroid impacts create Mercury's exosphere.
· Mercury has no moons.
· Mercury has no rings.
· Only two spacecraft have visited this rocky planet: Mariner 10 in 1974-5 and MESSENGER, which flew past Mercury three times before going into orbit around Mercury in 2011.
· No evidence for life has been found on Mercury. Daytime Temperatures can reach 430 degrees Celsius (800 degrees Fahrenheit) and drop to -180 degrees Celsius (-290 degrees Fahrenheit) at night. It is unlikely life (as we know it) could survive on this planet.
o Because it has almost no atmosphere to retain heat, Mercury's surface experiences the greatest temperature changes of all the planets
o Mercury’s dark side, however, is very cold indeed, with the temperature going down to -200° Celsius or -328° Fahrenheit.
o Standing on Mercury's surface at its closest point to the sun, the sun would appear more than three times larger than it does on Earth.
· Mercury is appropriately named for the swiftest of the ancient Roman gods. Mercury, the god of commerce, is the Roman counterpart to the ancient Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the gods.
· Closest planet to the sun
· One day on Mercury (the time it takes for Mercury to rotate or spin once) takes 59 Earth days. Mercury makes a complete orbit around the sun (a year in Mercury time) in just 88 Earth days.
· Mercury is a rocky planet, also known as a terrestrial planet. Mercury has a solid, cratered surface, much like Earth's moon.
· Mercury's thin atmosphere, or exosphere, is composed mostly of oxygen (O2), sodium (Na), hydrogen (H2), helium (He), and potassium (K). Atoms that are blasted off the surface by the solar wind and micrometeoroid impacts create Mercury's exosphere.
· Mercury has no moons.
· Mercury has no rings.
· Only two spacecraft have visited this rocky planet: Mariner 10 in 1974-5 and MESSENGER, which flew past Mercury three times before going into orbit around Mercury in 2011.
· No evidence for life has been found on Mercury. Daytime Temperatures can reach 430 degrees Celsius (800 degrees Fahrenheit) and drop to -180 degrees Celsius (-290 degrees Fahrenheit) at night. It is unlikely life (as we know it) could survive on this planet.
o Because it has almost no atmosphere to retain heat, Mercury's surface experiences the greatest temperature changes of all the planets
o Mercury’s dark side, however, is very cold indeed, with the temperature going down to -200° Celsius or -328° Fahrenheit.
o Standing on Mercury's surface at its closest point to the sun, the sun would appear more than three times larger than it does on Earth.
· Mercury is appropriately named for the swiftest of the ancient Roman gods. Mercury, the god of commerce, is the Roman counterpart to the ancient Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the gods.