Mercury 2 Essay, Research Paper

Mercury

Mercury is the 8th largest planet in our solar system, bing approximately tierce of Earth s size. It is besides the planet closest to the Sun, and is frequently seeable with field glassess, or even the bare oculus. It s hard to see in the dusk sky. One of Mercury s most distinguishable characteristics is its rugged surface, which is similar to the surface of the Earth s Moon.

In Roman mythology, Mercury is the God of commercialism and larceny. He is considered the Roman opposite number of the Greek God Hermes, the courier of the Olympic Gods. The planet likely received this name because it moves so rapidly across the sky. Mercury has been known since at least the clip of the Sumerians. The Greeks gave Mercury two names: Apollo for its phantom as a forenoon star, and Hermes as an eventide star. Grecian uranologists knew, nevertheless, that the two names referred to the same organic structure.

Since Mercury is a smaller planet, highly close to the Sun, and has no significant atmosphere, it has the greatest temperature scope of any planet or natural orbiter in our solar system. The surface temperature on the side of Mercury closest to the Sun reaches 427 grades Celsius, a temperature hot plenty to run Sn. On the side confronting off from the Sun, or the dark side, the temperature drops to -183 grades Celsius. Scientists have detected a magnetic field environing Mercury, though it is non every bit strong as the field around the Earth. Scientists theorize that Mercury & # 8217 ; s field is due to an iron-bearing nucleus or perchance to the solar air currents. Merc

ury’s atmosphere is really thin and is composed of He and Na. The surface of Mercury has been shaped by three procedures: impact cratering where big objects struck the surface ensuing in crater formation, volcanism where lava flooded the surface, and tectonic activity where the planet’s crust moved in order to set to the planetal chilling and catching. Mercury does non hold any of course happening orbiters.

Due to Mercury & # 8217 ; s rotary motion and extremely egg-shaped orbit, the Sun appears to lift briefly, set, and rise once more before it travels westward across the sky. At sundown, the Sun appears to put, lift once more briefly, and so put once more.

Mariner 10, after go throughing Venus and doing the first UV images of its clouds and being the first to carry on a gravitation aid to another planet, traveled to Mercury and made three flyover of it in 1974 and 1975, before its attitude fuel was exhausted. Mariner 10 showed that Mercury was to a great extent cratered, and that it looked merely like the Moon. Mariner 10 besides showed that Mercury & # 8217 ; s mass was much larger than it was antecedently thought to be. This seemed to bespeak that Mercury & # 8217 ; s nucleus is composed chiefly of Fe, and that it makes up about 75 per cent of the planet. Further support for this lies in the fact that Mercury was discovered to bring forth a magnetic field. Earth & # 8217 ; s magnetic field is formed by its liquid Fe nucleus, so scientists believe that this may bring forth Mercury & # 8217 ; s, excessively. Mariner 10 merely photographed portion of Mercury, but scientists believe that there is no ground to believe that the balance is any different.