1. The Planet Mercury By
Logan Wedel

2. Mercury’s Orbit
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and has a very unusual orbit. The path that mercury follows around the sun is called at ellipse.
At its closet point, Mercury is only 27 million miles away; at its closet, it is 41 million miles away.

3. Mercury Compared To Earth!
One of Mercury’s days, is 2/3 as long as one of its years. There are 88 earth days in a Mercurian year. It takes Mercury 59 earth days to complete a trip around the sun.
The gravity on Mercury is only about 38% of the gravity on earth. A person that weights a 100 pounds on earth would only weigh 38 pounds on Mercury.

4. Mercury’s Atmosphere
Mercury’s atmosphere is so thin its like it doesn’t even have one. In fact, Mercury’s atmosphere is only 1 trillionth of the size of earths.
Mercury’s atmosphere is most dense in the daytime and it is made up of 56% oxygen, 35% sodium, 8% helium, and only 1% of potassium and hydrogen.

5. Mercury’s Weather
Though Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, it is not the hottest. Mercury has the greatest difference in temperature between day and night.
The temperature in the day is around 806 degrees F. In the night time, it drops dramatically to -292 degrees F.
The temperature difference between day and night on Mercury can be as much as 1,080 degrees!

6. Mercury’s Physical Features
Mercury is mostly made up of iron. It is also covered in many craters because it has practically no atmosphere.
The surface of mercury is thought to be made up of igneous silicate rocks and dust.

7. Exploration of Mercury
Messenger's is a scientific investigation of the planet Mercury. Understanding Mercury, and the forces that have shaped it, is fundamental to understanding the terrestrial planets and their evolution. Messenger's journey will include one Earth flyby, two Venus flybys and three Mercury flybys before it enters orbit in The flybys will help focus the science mission when Messenger's enters orbit. The spacecraft is expected to orbit Mercury for one year.

8. Works Cited