Interesting Facts About Mercury
Published by This is a list of 15 very interesting facts about the planet Mercury. I hope you enjoy the facts!
15. In Roman mythology Mercury is the god of commerce, travel and thievery, the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the Gods. The planet probably received this name because it moves so quickly across the sky.
14. The sun appears 2 and a half times larger in Mercury’s sky compared to the Earth’s.
13. Mercury’s elliptical orbit takes the small planet as close as 29 million miles (47 million kilometers) and as far as 43 million miles (70 million kilometers) from the sun.
12. Before the first space-crafts flew to Mercury to take pictures of its surface, some astronomers believed that the planet would have a smooth surface. When Mariner 10 took pictures of Mercury during its flyby of Venus and Mercury in November 1973, scientists discovered that Mercury is the most cratered planet in the Solar System with a surface similar to Earth’s Moon.
11. If you moved to Mercury you would not weigh as much as you do on Earth. Not because you would lose weight on the spaceship, but because Mercury is smaller, and so has less gravity. If you weigh 70 pounds (32 kg) on Earth, you would weigh only about 27 pounds (12 kg) on Mercury.
10. Mercury is the eighth largest planet (or second smallest) in the Solar System.
9. Mercury has been known since at least the time of the Sumerians (3rd millennium BC). It was sometimes given separate names for its apparitions as a morning star and as an evening star. Greek astronomers knew, however, that the two names referred to the same body. Heraclitus even believed that Mercury and Venus orbit the Sun, not the Earth.
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8. Temperatures on Mercury’s surface can reach 800 degrees Fahrenheit (430 degrees Celsius). Because the planet has no atmosphere to retain that heat, nighttime temperatures on the surface can drop to -280 degrees Fahrenheit (-170 degrees Celsius).
7. Mercury has virtually no atmosphere. It however has small traces of an atmosphere
6. Mercury has been visited by only one spacecraft, Mariner 10. It flew by three times in 1973 and 1974. Only 45% of the surface was mapped.
5. A year on Mercury is only 88 days long, but a full day (from sunset to sunrise) takes 176 days, even though the planet takes 58 days to rotate on its axis. This causes the Sun to rise above the horizon at the beginning of a Mercurian day in the East (as on Earth), then move higher into the sky, move back down towards the horizon at the East, and then quickly move over to the Western horizon to set, after about 60 days!
4. The planet Mercury is the closest of the planets to the Sun. Because this planet lies so close to the Sun, and as a result somewhat near to Earth, it is visible to observers on Earth in the late evening or early morning sky. Because of this, Mercury has become a part of the mythology and legend of almost every culture throughout the history of the Earth.
3. The orbital speed of Mercury is 47.8 km/sec.
2. Because of the lack of atmosphere, Mercury’s sky is black and the stars probably can be seen during the day.
1. Mercury can only be seen just after the Sun has risen and just before the sun sets.
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