the planets of our solar system have fascinated man since the beginning of his childhood so you've probably heard about the planet mercury right this planet functions quite differently from our earth and why is that you can find out here here are 10 unusual facts about mercury if you would like to leave earth with us to travel to the farthest reaches of the cosmos then show us with a thumbs up subscribe to simply space and look forward to the videos that will be waiting for you in the future let's begin the journey to the mysterious mercury
mercury is the planet closest to the sun as such it orbits the sun faster than all other planets which is why the romans named it after their swift-footed messenger god because the planet is so close to the sun mercury's surface temperature can reach 450 degrees celsius or 840 degrees fahrenheit however since there is hardly a real atmosphere on this world in which heat can be trapped temperatures can drop to minus 170 degrees celsius or minus 270 degrees fahrenheit at night which corresponds to a temperature fluctuation of more than 600 degrees celsius or 1100 degrees fahrenheit
the largest in the solar system although venus is at a greater distance from the sun it experiences higher temperatures on mercury's surface facing the sun temperatures can reach 450 degrees celsius while on the other side it can be as low as negative 170 degrees celsius this is due to the fact that the planet has no atmosphere to help regulate the temperature mercury has no moons why is that maybe you guessed the answer in the first case mercury is just too close to the sun and that's all there is to it any moon that mercury could
or wanted to capture would be in an unstable orbit because the sun would pull it in at some point the moon would either spiral away or orbit the sun or it would break out of a stable orbit around mercury and hit the planet a year on mercury is only 88 days long one solar day on mercury lasts the equivalent of 176 earth days while the sidereal day or the time for one revolution relative to a fixed point lasts 59 earth days over time this has slowed down the rotation of the planet mercury also has the
highest orbital eccentricity of all the planets at a distance of 46 to 70 million kilometers from the sun mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system as one of five planets visible to the naked eye mercury is only 4879 kilometers above its equator compared to 12 742 kilometers for earth mercury is therefore the smallest planet in the solar system the smallest planet has a diameter of about 4 879 kilometers or 3030 miles which is about the same size as the continental planet of the united states and only slightly larger than earth's moon it is
smaller than both saturn's moon titan and jupiter's moon ganymede pluto used to be considered the smallest planet in the solar system but it has been downgraded to a dwarf planet leaving the distinction to mercury from the surface of mercury the sun would appear more than three times as large as when viewed from the earth and the sunlight would be up to seven times brighter despite its proximity to the sun mercury is not the hottest planet in our solar system this title belongs to the nearby venus thanks to its dense atmosphere however the smallest planet in
our solar system is very present in our collective imagination dozens of science fiction authors have been inspired by mercury including isaac asimov c.s lewis ray bradbury arthur c clarke and h.p lovecraft tv and film authors have also discovered the planet as an ideal place for storytelling in the animated television show invader zim mercury is transformed from the extinct martians into the prototype of a giant spaceship and in the 2007 film sunshine the spaceship icarus ii flies into orbit around mercury to meet icarus one only two starships have ever visited mercury the exploration of mercury plays
a subordinate role for the world space interests it is the least explored inner planet since 2015 the mariner 10 and messenger missions are the only missions that have observed mercury at close range messenger made three flybys before entering orbit around mercury a third mission to mercury bepi columbo a joint mission of the japan aerospace exploration agency or jaxa and the european space agency will comprise two probes messenger and beppy colombo are designed to collect complementary data to help scientists understand many of the secrets discovered during the flybys of mariner 10. compared to other planets mercury
is difficult to explore the speed required to reach it is relatively high and its proximity to the sun makes it difficult to maneuver a spacecraft into a stable orbit around it messenger was the first probe to orbit mercury mercury is the most cratered planet in the solar system unlike many other planets which repair themselves through natural processes the surface of mercury is covered with craters these are caused by numerous encounters with asteroids and comets most mercury craters are named after famous writers and artists every single bulge that has a diameter of more than 250 kilometers
is called a basin the caloris basin is the largest impact crater on this planet it has a diameter of approximately 1550 kilometers the impact crater was discovered by the probe mariner 10 in 1974 scientists assume that there is ice in the craters of mercury the north and south poles of the planet are cold and shady which could allow them to retain water ice meteorites and comets may have brought ice to these areas or water vapor from inside mercury may have seeped out and frozen mercury has an exosphere mercury has the thinnest atmosphere of all planets
in our solar system the atmosphere of the planet is so thin that scientists have another name for it an exosphere so instead of an atmosphere mercury has only a thin exosphere which consists of atoms that are blown away from the surface by the solar wind and hit by meteoroids mercury's exosphere consists mainly of oxygen sodium hydrogen helium and potassium mercury has only 38 of the earth's gravity which is too little to hold the atmosphere blown away by the solar winds but while gases escape into space at the same time they are constantly replenished by the
same solar winds radioactive decay and dust caused by micrometeorites the moon and other bodies in the solar system also have exospheres making them possibly the most common type of atmosphere in the solar system according to nasa scientists mercury has a molten core in recent years nasa scientists have come to believe that mercury's solid iron core may indeed have melted normally the core of smaller planets cools down quickly but after extensive research the results did not match the results expected from a solid core the scientists now assume that the core contains a lighter element such as
sulfur which would lower the melting temperature of the core material it is estimated that mercury's core makes up 42 percent of its volume while the earth's core makes up 17 mercury is the second most dense planet when it comes to determining the surface gravity of a planet density plays a significant role and is important for us to understand how planets form even though the planet is small mercury has a high density each cubic centimeter has a density of 5.4 grams this is largely due to the fact that mercury is composed mainly of heavy metals and
rock only the earth has a higher density mercury is named after the roman messenger god it is not known who discovered mercury but it is known what its name means mercury or in latin mercurius is the roman religion god of shopkeepers and traitors of travelers and carriers of goods as well as thieves and sheets it is commonly identified with the greek hermes the light-footed messenger of the gods also interesting mercury is sometimes depicted as a purse symbolic of its business functions artists like the followers of the roman religion itself freely took up the attributes of
hermes and also depicted mercury with winged sandals or a winged cap and with a staff imagine a world where the sun rises are two years apart and the difference between day and night temperatures is more than 600 degrees celsius this world is mercury the planet closest to the sun and perhaps the strangest the mercury year the time it takes to orbit the sun measures as we now know 88 earth days a lethargic spin around its axis makes the full day night cycle twice as long what do you think of this planet do you find it
special or is mercury your favorite planet leave us a comment
