Mercury :: essays research papers

hydrargyrum hectogram is the closest planet to the sun. Its average distance fromthe sun is approximately fifty-eight million km and its diameter is 4875 km,making it the second smallest planet in our solar system. Its volume and massare about 1/18 that of the earth and its average density is approximately equalto that of the earth. Mercurys magnetic field is one-hundred times weaker thanthat of Earths. Mercury has the shortest rotation of all the planets in oursolar system and revolves around the sun in about eighty-eight long time. Radarobservations of the planet show that its period of rotation is 58.7 days, or ii-thirds of its period of revolution. That means that Mercury has one andone-half days in its year.Mercury doesnt put one over an atmosphere, but it does afford a thin layer ofhelium. The helium is actually solar sophisticate that is trapped by Mercurys weakgravity. Scientists think that collisions with protoplanets primordial in thehistory of the solar system may h ave plain a government agency lighter materials, makingMercury a very overweight planet with an iron core extending outwards 4/5 of the wayto the surface.Mercury bares a very similar resemblance to our moon because it has alot of craters. The craters, which cover seventy-five percent of Mercuryssurface, were create by huge rocks that smashed into the planets surface. Thelargest crater is called the Caloris privy and it is 1400 km in diameter and isflooded with molten lava. Mercury likewise has many cliffs that are usually over300 miles long and two miles high. The rest of the planets surface is smoothand may have been formed by lava flowing out of cracks in the surface.Temperatures on Mercury vary greatly because of its closeness to thesun. The surface temperature on the light side is about 430 degrees Celsius,while the dark side may legislate temperatures of -170 degrees Celsius..Mercury was a difficult planet to study before the conception of thetelescope. Even then, you c ould only see Mercury in the morning and evening. wherefore the Mariner 10 was built in the 1970s to go fete Mercury.