Mercury Venealus Chew Traneeka Brooks

Mercury Mercury is the closest to the sun and the eighth largest planet. Mercury is in many ways is similar to the moon. its surface is heavily cratered and very old But mercury is more dense than the moon Its iron core is larger then earth

Space crafts Mercury has been now visited by two space crafts Mariner 10 and the Messenger The Messenger was launched by NASA in 2004 and will orbit Mercury starting in 2011 after several flybyes Mariner 10 flew by 3 times in 1974 and 1975 Only 45% of the surface was mapped

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Atmosphere Mercury actually has a very thin atmosphere consisting of atoms blasted off its surface by the solar wind Because Mercury is so hot, its atoms quickly escape into space. in contrast to the Earth and Venus whose atmospheres are very stable Mercury's atmosphere is constantly being replenished.

Magnetic Field, Satellites, visibility, Craters Mercury has a small magnetic field whose strength is about 1 percent of earths Mercury has no known satellites Is often visible with binoculars or even the naked eye but it is always very near the sun in difficult to see in the twilight sky. Some craters maybe ancient volcanic activity

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Time on Mercury On day on Mercury is like Earth days One year on Mercury is like days on Earth

Size related to earth Mercury is on 1/5 the size of Earth

Who discovered Mercury People later discovered that the planet Mercury was discovered by Johann Hieronymus Schroeter he lived from 1745 to He did sketches on the planet Mercury and they weren't very accurate

More Useful Facts Mercury is the fastest moving planet in our solar system. The length across Mercury is 4,878km. Mercury is a bit bigger than the Earth's. The gravity on Mercury is 38% of the gravity on the Earth. If you were on the surface of Mercury the sun would be three times bigger than on the Earth. Mercury is the second smallest planet in our solar system. Did you know that Titan Saturn's moon is bigger than Mercury? Titan is also bigger than Pluto.

Weather Due to the small atmosphere Mercury really has no weather other than wild fluctuations in temperature. in fact, Mercury has the largest diurnal temperature spread of any planet in our solar system. This is explained by a few factors. Mercury rotates on its axis every 59 days relative to fixed stars such as our Sun.

Temperature Due to being so close to the sun mercury Is the hottest planet

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