Interesting Facts about Mecury
Mass .3302 x 1024
Volume 6.085 x 1010 km3
Equatorial Radius 2440 km
Rotation Period 1407.6 hours
Surface Gravity 3.7 m/s2

Enter Your Weight

Click on the picture of Mercury to find out your weight

If you were standing on Mercury, you would weigh.

 

Mercury is the second smallest planet in this solar system and also the closest to the sun. It has a diameter of only 3,031 miles (4,878km). It makes one complete orbit around the sun in only 88 earth days. Mercury is also one the brightest planets visible to us on earth. However, since it is so close to the sun it is only visible just before sunrise and sunset. At its closest point to the sun (perihelion) it is 29 million miles or 47 million kilometers away. The aphelion, the farthest position of orbit, is 44 million miles (71 million km). Strangely, Mercury rotates around its orbit in 59 earth days (Remember, earth rotates around its axis once in 24 hours). Mercury does not have an atmosphere but does contain a thin atmospheric layer of sodium and helium.

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This mosaic of Mercury was taken by the Mariner 10 spacecraft during its approach on 29 March 1974

       Another mosiac of Mercury

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Another mosiac of Mercury showing the impact craters

Another mosiac of Mercury in the shape of a semi-circle

Composition: Mercury is believed to be 70% iron and 30% rock from other elements such as silicates.

Asteroid Impact: An asteroid approximately 62 miles wide struck mercury and created an impact basin about 810 miles wide. The basin is called the Caloris Basin and was once covered with molten lava.

Picture of the Caloris Basin

This mosaic shows the Caloris Basin (located half-way in shadow on the terminator). Caloris is Latin for heat and the basin is named this because it is near the subsolar point (the point closest to the sun) when Mercury is at perihelion (the closest point in its orbit to the sun).

Visitors

Mercury was visited by the Mariner 10 spacecraft that returned images on March 29, 1974. The spacecraft flew by two more times in 1975 and managed to take pictures that covered approximately 45% of the planet. It revealed a landscape similar to the moon with impact craters.

Interesting Facts:

The surface temperature on Mercury varies more than 630 degrees Celsius (1,130°F) Before sunrise, Mercury is at –300°F (-184°C) and at noon, it is almost 800°F (427°C)!

Since Mercury has a highly elliptical orbit, the view of the sun would be strange. The sun would seem to stop moving east to west and reverse directions, then reverse again.

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