1. Mercury By Megan Carlson, Kaya Hall, Jacob McHugh, & Lilli McCreery

2. History Mercury as named after the Roman god Mercury It is the closest plant to the Sun Known about since ancient times Greeks called it Apollo as the morning star and Hermes as the Evening star Mercury god of trade

3. Rotation Mercury rotates around the sun every 88 days Second slowest planet to rotate around the sun (Venus being the slowest) One day on Mercury lasts 176 earth days

4. Revolution 58.6 Earth days

5. Distances Closest Planet to Sun Average distance from Sun: 57,910,000 km (36 million miles)

6. Distances Opposition (closest distance from Earth, but farthest from Sun): 77 million km (48 million miles) Farthest distance (opposite sides of Sun): 222 million km (138 million miles)

7. Size Surface Area: 7.48 x 10 7 km 2 - 10.8% of Earth’s surface area Volume: 6.083 x 10 10 km 2 - 5.4% of Earth’s volume. Equatorial Diameter: 4,879 km (15,988,845 feet)

8. Size Second smallest planet Some scientists believe it is shrinking due to its liquid core and rotation The rotation is cooling parts of the core Terrestrial Planet

9. Density Second most dense Density: 5.427 g/cm 3 (Earth: 5.515 g/cm 3 ) If gravitational compression was not taken into account, Mercury would be more dense Most density comes from core (42% of volume)

10. Temperature Has a huge range in temperature Ranges from -168 o C – 428 o C (-270 o F – 800 o F) Daytime: temperatures rise very high (only Venus is hotter) Nighttime: thin atmosphere releases temperatures so it drops quickly

11. Composition Mercury isn’t very dense so it doesn’t have than much gravity It has a large core which is most likely partly molten and generates a magnetic field about 1% as strong as Earth’s Interior resembles that of Earth Has a rocky layer, called the mantle, beneath the crust and an iron core

12. Atmosphere Planet is too small to hold down a normal atmosphere and the one it has is constantly being blown away; however, there is a very thin one Atmosphere consists of: hydrogen, helium, oxygen, sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium Atmospheric pressure at surface is 1 trillionth of Earth’s

13. Satellites There are no satellites orbiting Mercury

14. Physical Characteristics The smallest planet Brown Dry

15. Physical Characteristics Rocky & crater-like Looks like the moon Has some plains & hills

16. What it Would Be Like to Go There Its impossible! No water or living life

17. What it Would Be Like to Go There Severe weather change Very icy Burning hot Lava eruptions on surface