Chase George Landon

 Closest planet to the sun sitting 36 million miles away.  Smallest planet in solar system  1 year on Mercury is 88 Earth days long  Surface Gravity is 38% of Earth’s surface gravity  Density = 98% of Earth’s density  Temperature ranges as high as 427 degrees Celsius to -173 degrees Celsius  named for messenger of the roman gods.  Most iron rich planet in solar system  Heavily cratered like our moon  3,031 miles in diameter  No moons Description

 Sun appears close to 3 times as large in Mercury’s sky then in Earth’s sky  100 pounds on Earth is 37 pounds on Mercury  Lack of atmosphere makes sky black and stars are seen during day  Sun rays are 7 times stronger then on Earth  13 times a century, Mercury can be seen from the earth passing across the face of the sun called a transit. The next one will occur on May 9 th, 2016  Even though closest to the sun, Venus is still hotter  It rotates on its axis exactly three times for every 2 revolutions it makes around the sun, therefore there is only three full days in two full years. Facts

 Travels through space at 31 miles per second, faster than any other planet in our solar system  In 2007, researchers used ground-based radars to study the core, and found evidence that it is partly molten. Mercury’s outer shell, comparable to Earth’s, is only about 250 miles thick More Facts

 1631: Thomas Harriott and Galilei observed Mercury with newly invented telescope  1631: Pierre Gassendi uses telescope to watch from Earth as Mercury crosses the face of the sun  1965: Astronomers find that Mercury doesn’t always face only one side towards the sun  : Mariner 10 photographs roughly half of Mercury’s surface  1992: Scientists using radar, find signs of ice locked in permanently shadowed areas of craters in Mercury’s polar regions  : Messenger observes Mercury during three flybys and discovers even more of Mercury  2011: Messenger begins orbital mission at Mercury Significant Dates