Your weight on Mercury would be just 38% of your weight on the Earth.Mercury does not experience any seasons. This planet is as big as Pluto.The smallest and closest planet to the Sun in our Solar System is Mercury. It also has the shortest orbit around the Sun, taking 87.97 Earth days. Mercury is the name of the Roman god called Mercurius, who is the mediator between mortals and gods, a messenger of gods, and a god of commerce, like Hermes, the Greek god. Mercury is an interior or inferior planet to Earth, like Venus. As the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury is visible at dawn on the eastern horizon, and typically during twilight or dusk on the western horizon. However, it is harder to observe this planet than Venus and appears as a bright star-like object. Mercury has a unique rotation in our Solar System. This planet has three rotations about its axis for every two revolutions around the Sun (3:2 spin-orbit resonance). With the Sun as the frame of reference, the planet only rotates every two Mercurian years. An observer on the planet mercury would only see one day for every two Mercurian years.If you enjoy reading these facts about the characteristics of Mercury, then make sure to read some more interesting facts about Mercury and learn why Venus is hotter than Mercury here at Kidadl.Who discovered Mercury, and what is it like there?Mercury is the densest planet right after Earth.The earliest proof of observation of Mercury is some MUL.APIN tablets, and the smallest planet was likely observed by an Assyrian astronomer in the 14th century BC. The name that was used for Mercury was ’the jumping planet.’ Although it is very hard to determine who first discovered the smallest planet, Galileo Galilei was able to observe Mercury in the early 17th-century through a telescope. In 1639, Giovanni Zupi observed the phases of the planet Mercury. Mercury does not have any known ring systems or satellites. When viewed from Mercury’s surface, the Sun appears to be more than three times the size it is on Earth. The intensity of the sunlight would be seven times brighter. You could fit around 21 million Mercuries within the Sun.As it is closest to the Sun, two spacecraft have visited Mercury. NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft was the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury in 2008. However, NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft was the first mission that was sent in 1974-1975 to explore Mercury. BepiColombo is the third spacecraft that is set to visit Mercury and will reach Mercury in the year 2025.Mercury is not a lot bigger than the Earth’s moon. It is at a distance of 35.98 million mi (57.91 million km) from the Sun, which is 0.4 AU (astronomical units). Sunlight travels within 3.2 minutes from the Sun to Mercury’s surface, and the distance traveled by light in the given time is equal to 1 AU. The radius of this planet is 1,516 mi (2,439 km). Its mass is about 5.5% of that of Earth. Mercury also has a high density and is the second densest after our planet. This high density is due to Mercury’s core material, which is around half the planet’s volume. Around 30% silicate and 70% metallic material make up the planet’s interior mass. A widely accepted theory about the mass is that the planet first had a metal-silicate ratio, like in chondrite meteorites. Mercury was struck by a planet-sized impactor early in our Solar System’s history. This impact stripped away a huge amount of the planet’s mantle and core, with just a huge core left behind. So, Mercury would have been much larger; however, the temperature would have been higher, and most of its surface rock might have vaporized. Then a solar wind could have carried the rock vapor.What is the surface of Mercury like?Mercury is a rocky planet, like Earth, Venus, and Mars.In ancient history, people thought that Mercury was two objects in the night sky: an evening star and a morning star. Mercury orbits around the Sun at 29 mi/s (47 kps) in an elliptical orbit. The planet’s surface is similar to that of the Moon. Mercury’s surface has many scars due to deep craters from meteoroids or comets. It is believed that, shortly after Mercury’s formation, it was bombarded by asteroids and comets 4.6 billion years ago and also during the Late Heavy Bombardment event, which ended around 3.8 billion years ago. Due to the absence of an atmosphere in its space environment, Mercury’s surface suffered a lot more. It is also believed that, during this period, this planet was volcanically active. These activities also explain the gray color of the planet.This planet’s surface experiences both cold and hot temperatures. The temperature reaches 800 F (430 C) during the day. As there’s no atmosphere to retain this heat in the nighttime, the temperature can fall to -290 F (-180 C). These are the most drastic temperature changes in the entire Solar System. Inside the deep craters of Mercury’s surface at the north and south poles, there may be ice. There are several craters with ice, which never face the Sun. Due to there being so many craters, Mercury is the most cratered planet in the entire Solar System. Mercury will not be able to self-heal from comets and asteroids, as it isn’t geographically active.Like the other terrestrial planets, Mercury is made of a molten core, a mantle, and a crust. There are no tectonic plates in the crust, and it has a huge iron core. A magnetic core is produced by the molten core that deflects any solar wind. Mercury’s magnetic field and a small amount of surface gravity allow it to hold on to the tenuous atmosphere. The magnetic field strength of Mercury is about 1.1% of the Earth’s. The magnetic field is generated similar to that of the Earth’s, by dynamo effect. The alignment of Mercury’s poles with its spin axis is the difference. Mercury possesses a thin layer of an exosphere instead of an atmosphere. This also causes Mercury’s sky to always appear black. Typically, the exosphere forms the final layer in the atmosphere. This planet’s exosphere is made of hydrogen, helium, potassium, sodium, and oxygen, which get whipped up by the solar wind from the planet’s surface.Mercury’s OrbitAlthough the gravity of the Sun tries to pull Mercury toward it, the planet does not budge from its place due to its own momentum. So, this planet neither flies away nor gets pulled in.Mercury’s magnetic field creates a magnetosphere by deflecting solar winds. The magnetic field is offset relative to Mercury’s equator.Mercury’s axis is tilted outwards from the ecliptic plane. The axial tilt of Mercury, in this case, is 2.11 degrees. Mercury has the fastest revolution around the Sun in the Solar System, for which it is called the swift planet. However, Mercury rotates very slowly, and the circumference remains the same no matter the location you measure it from. Mercury takes 59 Earth days to complete one orbit, with the shortest year of any planet in our Solar System. A 1965 radar observation proved that Mercury rotates three times for every two revolutions it takes around the Sun, which is 3:2 spin-orbit resonance. Like on many planets, each rotation of Mercury is not typically accompanied by sunset and sunrise.Due to safety, the Hubble Space Telescope is not allowed to point too close to the Sun. Alternatively, the planet must be viewed during the day with clear conditions and Mercury’s greatest elongation. You can find the planet easily this way, even if you are using a telescope with 3.1 in (8 cm) apertures. However, when viewing at this distance, you must always avoid the Sun as it can damage your eyes. Mercury is easily visible from the Southern Hemisphere compared to the Northern Hemisphere. Mercury displays phases like Venus and the Moon from Earth. When Mercury crosses the face of the Sun, we can view Mercury from our planet. However, this happens only once every seven years, and this phenomenon is known as a transit.Strange Characteristics Of MercuryMercury has a lot of wrinkles. In the early years of the planet, the iron core of Mercury was very hot, and eventually, the planet started to cool off. This contracted the molten core, which caused wrinkles on the planet’s surface. Mercury wrinkles are known as Lobate Scarps with big lengths.Recent discoveries on the planet Mercury show that this planet travels with a long comet-looking tail behind it. The tail is made of sodium atoms that are pushed away by the intense pressure to produce the radiation of the Sun. A 2016 study indicates that the surface features of Mercury can usually be divided into two groups, one with new materials that are formed close to the surface of this planet and the other with old materials, melted at high pressures at the boundary of core and mantle. Another study in the same year found that carbon is the reason for the dark hue of this planet’s surface.Solar radiation and temperature characterize this planet, which is too extreme for any organism to adapt to. Life may not develop due to its cold and hot temperatures. Also, a 2016 study proved that the planet may still shake due to earthquakes (Mercuryquakes). Previously, the surface of this planet has been reshaped many times by volcanic activities that ended long ago.Although objects smaller than Mercury have satellites, Mercury does not. Usually, it is believed that moons or satellites are formed when their parent planets are formed, but in the case of Mercury, every material around the planet was used up by Mercury when it formed, leaving behind nothing for the moon to form. Another theory states that this planet could not have a moon due to its close distance to the Sun.Mercury is not the hottest planet in our Solar System; Venus is the hottest. Also, Venus spends most of its time away from our planet, which is why Mercury is the closest.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked learning about the characteristics of Mercury, then why not take a look at some fun facts about the color of the planet Mercury or the second planet from the Sun?
Your weight on Mercury would be just 38% of your weight on the Earth.
