Transcript Planet Mercury.

Planet Mercury.
Yibran Perez .Devon Lyle, Draven Soto
Mercury At a Glance.
 Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and due to its proximity it
is not easily seen except during twilight. For every two orbits of
the Sun, Mercury completes three rotations about its axis and up
until 1965 it was thought that the same side of Mercury
constantly faced the Sun. Thirteen times a century Mercury can be
observed from the Earth passing across the face of the Sun in an
event called a transit, the next will occur on the 9th May 2016.
Planet Profile.
 For its small size, mercury has a mass of 330,104,000,000,000
billion kg (0.055 x Earth).
 Orbital period is only 88 earth days.
 Unlike other planets, mercury has no know moons.
 For being the planet closest to the sun, its not the hottest. Daytime
temperatures reach 427 C(800 F). At night time, temperatures
decrease to -173 C(-279 F).
 Discovered in 14th century BC by Assyrian astronomers.
Quick Comparison.
Outter Mercury.
 Mercury has just 38% the gravity of Earth, this is too little to hold
on to what atmosphere it has which is blown away by solar winds.
However while gases escape into space they are constantly being
replenished at the same time by the same solar winds, radioactive
decay and dust caused by micrometeorites.
Outter Mercury Cont.
 Mercury's atmosphere contains small amounts of hydrogen,
helium, and oxygen. It also has even tinier amounts of sodium,
potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Some of the gas particles
come from the solar wind. Others are made by radioactive decay
or when micrometeorites smash into the surface.
Inner Mercury.
 Scientists believe that the interior structure of Mercury includes a
metallic core, an intermediate rocky layer, and a thin brittle crust.
The composition of Mercury is probably high in iron, although
surface features indicate that volcanic activity once existed at the
surface. There is little evidence of motions near the surface of the
planet now, although at earlier times during Mercury's evolution
the surface was much more active. We know relatively little about
Mercury, compared to most of the other planets, because it is
relatively difficult to see and only one spacecraft has studied the
planet.
Inner Mercury Conti.
 As noted previously, the
density of Mercury and the
magnetic field suggest
geological differentiation and a
large iron core. In the case of
the Earth the metallic core
occupies about 16% of the
interior by volume and in the
case of the Moon the core
occupies about 4% by volume.
In the case of Mercury the core
is thought to occupy about
50% of the interior by volume
(and a whopping 70% by
mass). Thus, Mercury is a
planet with a very large iron
core and a comparatively thin
mantle compared with the
Earth.
Surface Of Mercury.
 There are three major types of surface features on Mercury:
 Smooth plains that resemble Lunar maria.
 Intercrater plains, which are pocked with small craters and
occupy about 70% of the surface that we have examined.
 Rugged highlands that bear some resemblance to the
corresponding regions on the Moon.
 The adjacent image shows a mosaic of photographs taken from
Mariner 10 in 1974 that summarizes the character of the surface.
History.
 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. 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.
Visitations.
 Mercury has been now been visited by two spacecraft, Mariner 10
and MESSENGER. Marriner 10 flew by three times in 1974 and
1975. Only 45% of the surface was mapped (and, unfortunately, it
is too close to the Sun to be safely imaged by HST). MESSENGER
was launched by NASA in 2004 and has been in orbit Mercury
since 2011. Its first flyby in Jan 2008 provided new high quality
images of some of the terrain not seen by Mariner 10. Since then
Messenger has taken over 250,000 photographs coving the entire
planet.
Interesting Facts.
 Mercury has no atmosphere and no known satellites, perhaps
because of its proximity to the Sun.
 A day, from sunrise to sunrise, on Mercury is equivalent to 176 Earth
Days.
 Mercury is known as a terrestrial planet consisting of about 70%
metallic and 30% silicate material.
 The surface of the planet is covered in craters much like those seen
on Earth’s moon. This is a sign that Mercury has been geologically
dormant for billions of years.
 Since Mercury’s orbit is within Earth’s orbit, it can be viewed from
Earth in the early morning or the late evening, but never in the
middle of the nighttime.
 Mercury is the second densest planet after Earth.
 The Hubble Space Telescope cannot view Mercury. This is because
Mercury is too close to the Sun and the brightness would harm the
electrical components of the telescope.
Interesting Facts Cont.
 Mercury has water ice and
organics.This may sound
surprising given that the
planet is so close to the Sun,
but the ice is in permanently
shadowed craters that don’t
receive any sunlight.
 The water ice appears
younger than we would
expect.Close examination of
the ice shows sharp
boundaries, which implies
that it wasn’t deposited that
long ago; if it was, the ice
would be somewhat eroded
and mixed in with Mercury’s
regolith surface. This Image is
a forced perspective of
mercury north pole.
Video.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ZUhpisWeQ