Transcript Mercury
Mercury By Megan Carlson, Kaya Hall, Jacob McHugh, & Lilli McCreery History • Mercury as named after the Roman god Mercury • It is the closest plant to the Sun • Known about since ancient times • Greeks called it Apollo as the morning star and Hermes as the Evening star Mercury god of trade Rotation • Mercury rotates around the sun every 88 days • Second slowest planet to rotate around the sun (Venus being the slowest) • One day on Mercury lasts 176 earth days Revolution • 58.6 Earth days Distances • Closest Planet to Sun • Average distance from Sun: 57,910,000 km (36 million miles) Distances • Opposition (closest distance from Earth, but farthest from Sun): 77 million km (48 million miles) • Farthest distance (opposite sides of Sun): 222 million km (138 million miles) Size • Surface Area: 7.48 x 107 km2 - 10.8% of Earth’s surface area • Volume: 6.083 x 1010 km2 - 5.4% of Earth’s volume. • Equatorial Diameter: 4,879 km (15,988,845 feet) Size • Second smallest planet • Some scientists believe it is shrinking due to its liquid core and rotation • The rotation is cooling parts of the core • Terrestrial Planet Density • Second most dense • Density: 5.427 g/cm3 (Earth: 5.515 g/cm3) • If gravitational compression was not taken into account, Mercury would be more dense • Most density comes from core (42% of volume) Temperature • Has a huge range in temperature • Ranges from -168oC – 428oC (-270oF – 800oF) • Daytime: temperatures rise very high (only Venus is hotter) • Nighttime: thin atmosphere releases temperatures so it drops quickly Composition • Mercury isn’t very dense so it doesn’t have than much gravity • It has a large core which is most likely partly molten and generates a magnetic field about 1% as strong as Earth’s • Interior resembles that of Earth • Has a rocky layer, called the mantle, beneath the crust and an iron core Atmosphere • Planet is too small to hold down a normal atmosphere and the one it has is constantly being blown away; however, there is a very thin one • Atmosphere consists of: hydrogen, helium, oxygen, sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium • Atmospheric pressure at surface is 1 trillionth of Earth’s Satellites • There are no satellites orbiting Mercury Physical Characteristics • The smallest planet • Brown • Dry Physical Characteristics • Rocky & crater-like • Looks like the moon • Has some plains & hills What it Would Be Like to Go There • Its impossible! • No water or living life • • • • What it Would Be Like to Go There Severe weather change Very icy Burning hot Lava eruptions on surface