Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system, is a very fascinating planet.The planet Mercury also happens to be the innermost planet in our solar system. Mercury, which happens to be the densest planet in the solar system, is denser than all the planets except for Earth!Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun among all the solar system’s planets, is a very hot planet. Mercury’s surface closely resembles Earth’s moon, that is, it has a lot of craters. The Mercury surface is full of craters due to meteoroids and comets.Mercury’s axis is not as tilted compared to axes of other planets in the solar system. This means that the planet Mercury spins almost upright and does not get to experience any seasons or seasonal changes.Mercury’s orbit is very peculiar in its nature. The orbital period for the planet Mercury is 88 days but Mercury’s orbit is very eccentric as it has an elliptical orbit. The egg-shaped orbit takes a shorter distance than that of any major planets in the solar system during its rotation around the Sun. It has been scientifically impossible to send satellites to orbit Mercury due to its extreme proximity to the Sun.Mercury’s magnetic field is considered to be a dipole (having two magnetic poles). Mercury’s magnetic field is stronger than Venus’ magnetic field. In fact, Mercury’s magnetic field is so strong that it is one of the reasons why it hasn’t been sucked into the Sun.Mercury’s core is essentially made up of metal which constitutes about 3/4 of its entire mass. Mercury’s outer shell makes up the rest of its mass; it is made up of a rocky silicate shell that is only 1968.5 ft (600 m) deep. Mercury’s mass is 7.2 x 3.3 x 1023 lb (3.3 x 1023 kg) which is about 18 times less than Earth’s.A solar day is one full day-night cycle. One Mercury solar day is equal to 176 days on planet Earth which is enormous.Read on for some interesting facts about the planet Mercury. Afterward, also check out Earth and space (KS2) everything you need to know and 86 space exploration quotes for all budding astronauts.What is the color of Mercury?The planet Mercury is one of the most fascinating planets in the solar system. It has a very unique color which is hard to miss.The color of any planet depends on factors like the materials of which the planet is made and the particles and gases in the atmosphere which influence the sunlight that is absorbed and reflected by the planet.One interesting thing to note is that the surface of Mercury is basically plain rock, unlike the surface of any other planet in the solar system. Mercury has no active volcanoes but Mercury’s surface might be subjected to occasional lava flows which may alter the color of the planet a bit.Basically, the color of Mercury is dark gray. Various parts of Mercury which might have craters (since the planet is full of them) might be different shades of gray.We already know that Mercury’s surface is similar to our Moon’s surface which is also why Mercury resembles the Moon’s color as well. However, the Moon seems to have much more variety in its color than Mercury does.Many pictures also suggest some brownish color due to the lack of atmosphere. The brownish color seems possible since the planet is basically a rock.However, recent pictures have shown newer parts of the planet tend to have a bluish appearance while older areas seem to have a darker look. Some regions, called the ‘intermediate terrain’, appear to be yellowish in color.What is the atmosphere of Mercury like?Atmosphere is a mixture of gases surrounding a planet, acting basically like a thin layer of air.Since Mercury is really close to the Sun, studying Mercury’s atmosphere would be very interesting. There must be a mixture of very hot gases floating around the planet. It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that plasma is formed on Mercury. Did you know? Mercury was named after the Roman god Mercurius, god of commerce.The expansion of plasma in space leads to a phenomenon known as solar winds which affect Mercury. The hot solar wind plasma has some kind of an effect on the magnetic field of the planet.Many consider Mercury’s atmosphere to be essentially a region of vacuum. Mercury’s sky contains the following gases: 42% O2 (oxygen), 29% Na (sodium), 22% H (hydrogen), 6% He (helium), and 0.5% K (potassium) with traces of gases like carbon dioxide also present in minute quantities. Despite the presence of oxygen, however, it is not possible to breathe in Mercury’s atmosphere.The reason why a lot of people believe that Mercury realistically has no atmosphere has to do with the fact that the planet has a weakened gravity. This force is not able to keep gases down. Add to that the fact that the temperature is extremely hot and gases are easily able to escape, getting lost in space. This is one of the reasons why Mercury’s surface is readily visible with various colors.Meteoroids also seem to have an impact on the atmosphere. Gases are regularly blown away by these meteoroids or by solar winds.The Distance Between Mercury And The SunSince the gases in Mercury’s atmosphere seem to escape due to the extremely high temperature, it is safe to assume that Mercury must be very close to the Sun. That is in fact very true; Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun.Even though our planet, Earth, is the third farthest from the Sun, things get pretty hot down here which makes people wonder exactly how close Mercury is to the Sun. Well, let’s try and find out.The average distance between the Sun and Mercury is about 35.4 million mi (57 million km) or 0.4 AU. This means the distance between Mercury and the Sun is 1/4 of the distance between Earth and the Sun.The planet takes the shortest time to orbit the Sun as compared to other planets. At its closest point to the Sun, it is only about 29 million mi (46.7 million mi) away, while at its farthest it is about 43.5 million mi (70 million km) away. The average distance between the Earth and Mercury is 48 million mi (77.2 million km).These distances are known as perihelion (point in orbit closest to the Sun) and aphelion (point in orbit farthest from the Sun).The eccentricity of Mercury is more than any other planet in the solar system with its elliptical orbit. The eccentricity of the orbit is 0.2 (highest among other planets). Did you know? Mercury’s oldest visible surfaces are dark-colored in nature.The planet mercury is estimated to have formed almost 4.5 billion years ago, which makes it almost as old as our solar system. The creation of the planet would have been completed by the gravitational pull that brought together swirling gases and dust in the solar system. The small size of Mercury could be attributed to its proximity to the sun. There is also another theory purported by scientists regarding the small size of Mercury. It is speculated that a large celestial body had a collision with Mercury during the early violent phase of the solar system. As a result, most of the material of the planet got stripped away, leaving behind basically only the metallic core. This could be a reason behind the incredible density of Mercury despite its proximity to the sun.Mercury has a central core, a solid crust, and a rocky mantle. The size of the metallic core of Mercury is around 1,290 mi (2,064 km) which accounts for almost 85% of the radius of the sun. As compared to the Earth, the outer shell of Mercury is only around 250 mi (402.3 km) in terms of its thickness.Detailed studies by NASA missions have revealed that the surface of Mercury resembles that of the Earth’s Moon. There are many impact craters visible on the surface of the innermost planet due to collisions with comets and asteroids. As there are no active volcanoes on the surface of Mercury, the surface of the planet is thought to have remained unchanged during its entire history. This makes it tempting for scientists to land a probe on Mercury but its proximity to the Sun means that temperatures will be extremely high, though not high as temperatures on Venus. But still, making a probe enter the orbit around Mercury would be a considerable challenge and landing it would be an even greater challenge.How many moons does Mercury have?Moons of any planet are considered to be natural satellites. These tend to orbit around the planet itself as well as asteroids.Generally, the color of a planet’s moon is generally due to the light reflected from the Sun. That is one of the major reasons why we are able to see the surface of Earth’s Moon. It is filled with craters and rocks. Now we shall talk about the moons of Mercury.Mercury has zero confirmed moons. NASA records show that Mercury has no moons. Unlike Jupiter which has 53 confirmed moons, Mercury has none. There are various ways in which moons of various planets are named. Some moons of Uranus are named after William Shakespeare’s play (Ophelia and Puck) and Alexander Pope’s poetry (Belinda and Ariel). The newest moons of Saturn are named after Norse gods.Since Mercury has no moons it makes us wonder as to why that is the case. The simple reason is that since Mercury is so close to the Sun and the Sun’s gravity is huge, Mercury cannot possibly hold any moons of its own. The reason why Jupiter has 53 moons has to do with the fact that it is the largest planet in the solar system and has the largest gravity. Mercury’s gravity is nowhere close to the Sun’s gravity.The lack of moons also has to do with the distance between moons and planets. If moons are farther from a planet, they are in an unstable orbit and can easily get lost in space. If moons are closer to a planet then the gravitational forces of the planet might destroy them.Realistically, Mercury cannot have any moons of its own. Mercury and Venus are the two planets in the solar system without any moons orbiting them.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Mercury planet then why not take a look at Earth and space (KS2) everything you need to know or 86 space exploration quotes for all budding astronauts.
Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system, is a very fascinating planet.
