The History of Mercury
In 3,000 B.C., the Babylonians preserved early literature regarding Mercury. When Mercury was seen as the morning star, the Greeks called it Apollo, and when it was seen as the evening star, they called it Hermes. Astronomers have been interested in the solar system’s innermost planet since this time. Anyone familiar with Roman mythology would recognize that the planet was named after the Roman deity Mercury, who was the “winged messenger of the gods” and was in charge of travel and commerce. Mercury is thought to have been given its name because it is the quickest planet to circle the sun. Mercury, the second-smallest planet, with a diameter of 4,879 kilometers (3,025 miles) and no moon.
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The Orbit Of Mercury
Mercury’s orbit is not the same as Earth’s orbit. The planet’s perihelion, or closest point to the sun, is 46 million kilometers (29 million miles), while its aphelion, or furthest point from the sun, is 69 million kilometers (43 million miles).
Based on this, Mercury’s orbit is elliptical or egg-shaped. In contrast, the Earth’s orbit is round, with perihelion and aphelion distances from the sun of 91 and 94 kilometers, respectively.
Mercury, as previously noted, is one of the quickest planets to circle the sun. It travels at a speed of 48 kilometers per second (30 miles per hour). Based on this, it seems that when Mercury is at its perihelion, the sun appears to travel eastward for a brief amount of time before continuing to move westward.
Mercury orbits the Earth once every 88 Earth days, while its spin on its axis takes 58.6 days, as found in 1965. As a result, Mercury will complete three spins throughout its two orbits (Zuber 2004).
Expeditions To Mercury
The Mariner 10 spacecraft, which orbited Mercury from March 1974 to March 1975, was the only known mission to acquire images of the planet.
Mariner 10 was able to fly over three times and photograph about 45 percent of Mercury’s surface. The probe also discovered sodium in Mercury’s atmosphere and a magnetic field that was previously unknown. Mercury’s magnetic field was found to be 1% of Earth’s magnetic field.
The US launched the Messenger probe in 2004, and was scheduled to visit Mercury in 2008, 2009, and circle the planet in 2011. It will be utilized to get a better understanding of the planet’s surface and composition (Zuber 2004).
Exploring A Day On Mercury
The darkness is the first thing one notices while exploring Mercury. The darkness is caused by the very limited quantity of accessible atmosphere. Because of the planet’s low gravity, any atmosphere it can hang onto is made up of sodium, potassium, helium, oxygen, and hydrogen. As a result, even though Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, a day on the planet would be gloomy.
Mercury’s temps would be something to get used to as well. Mercury, is the sun’s nearest neighbor, with temperatures ranging from -200 to +800 degrees Fahrenheit. Mercury has the greatest fluctuation in temperature between day and night when compared to the other innermost planets.
The jagged terrain is the second aspect that a person would notice when spending a day on Mercury. Johann Hieronymus Schroeter, who lived from 1745 to 1816, is credited for sketching the planet for the first time. The surface of Mercury seems wrinkled in general. Images returned by the Mariner 10 space shuttle revealed a surface similar to Earth’s moon with prominent craters caused by asteroids impacting with it. Tiny and big craters may be seen on the surface, with the small craters being around 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter. Whereas the largest craters have diameters of 100 kilometers (60 miles) or more. When observed by Mariner 10, several of these enormous craters form a “bull’s eye” or multiring basin. The Caloris basin, which is around 1300 kilometers (810 miles) in diameter and a relatively youthful multiring basin, is the most popular of the major craters.
Smooth flat plains are also found on Mercury’s surface, scattered amid the craters. It is widely assumed that these intercrater plains were produced by early volcanic activity.
As one explores the inside of Mercury, one will be able to see the more than a hundred scarps that dot the planet’s surface. Scarps are cliffs developed along fault lines that result in one side of the land rising higher than the other. They cover 45 percent of Mercury’s surface and are around 3 kilometers (2 miles) tall and 100 meters long.
The planet Mercury is notable for possibly having aqueous ice at its Northern and Southern poles. There is much dispute regarding how a planet so near to the sun and with such high temperatures could contain water ice at its poles. Proponents of the concept that water ice exists on Mercury claim that it is most likely found at the bottom of deep craters where temperatures are low enough to keep ice frozen. Opponents of the presence of water ice on Mercury believe that the material is really sulfur, which is abundant in the solar system.
Even if water did exist on Mercury, this should not lead you to believe the planet is capable of supporting human life. With almost no atmosphere and temperatures varying from -200 to +800 degrees Fahrenheit, humanity would struggle to exist (Zuber 2004).
Statistics About Mercury
| Discovered By | Known by the Ancients |
| Date of Discovery | Unknown |
| Average Distance from the Sun | Metric: 57,909,175 km English: 35,983,095 miles Scientific Notation: 5.7909175 x 107 km (0.38709893 A.U.) By Comparison: Earth is 1 A.U. (Astronomical Unit) from the Sun. |
| Perihelion (closest) | Metric: 46,000,000 km English: 28,580,000 miles Scientific Notation: 4.600 x 107 km (0.3075 A.U.) By Comparison: 0.313 x Earth |
| Aphelion (farthest) | Metric: 69,820,000 km English: 43,380,000 miles Scientific Notation: 6.982 x 107 km (0.4667 A.U.) By Comparison: 0.459 x Earth |
| Equatorial Radius | Metric: 2,439.7 km English: 1,516.0 miles Scientific Notation: 2.4397 x 103 km By Comparison: 0.3825 x Earth |
| Equatorial Circumference | Metric: 15,329.1 km English: 9,525.1 miles Scientific Notation: 1.53291 x 104 km |
| Volume | Metric: 60,827,200,000 km3 English: 14,593,200,000 mi3 Scientific Notation: 6.08272 x 1010 km3 By Comparison: 0.054 x Earth’s |
| Mass | Metric: 330,220,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg Scientific Notation: 3.3022 x 1023 kg By Comparison: 0.055 x Earth’s |
| Density | Metric: 5.427 g/cm3 By Comparison: 0.984 x Earth |
| Surface Area | Metric: 74,800,000 km2 English: 28,900,000 square miles Scientific Notation: 7.48 x 107 km2 By Comparison: 0.108 x Earth |
| Equatorial Surface Gravity | Metric: 3.7 m/s2 English: 12.1 ft/s2 By Comparison: If you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 38 pounds on Mercury. |
| Escape Velocity | Metric: 15,300 km/h English: 9,500 mph Scientific Notation: 4.25 x 103 m/s By Comparison: Escape Velocity of Earth is 25,022 mph |
| Sidereal Rotation Period (Length of Day) | 58.646 Earth days 1407.5 hours By Comparison: By Comparison: 58.81 x Earth |
| Sidereal Orbit Period (Length of Year) | 0.241 Earth years 87.97 Earth days By Comparison: 0.241 x Earth |
| Mean Orbit Velocity | Metric: 172,341 km/h English: 107,088 mph Scientific Notation: 47,872.5 m/s By Comparison: 1.61 x Earth |
| Orbital Eccentricity | 0.20563069 By Comparison: 12.3 x Earth |
| Orbital Inclination to Ecliptic | 7 degrees |
| Equatorial Inclination to Orbit | 0 degrees By Comparison: Earth’s equatorial inclination to orbit is 23.45 degrees. |
| Orbital Circumference | Metric: 356,000,000 km English: 221,000,000 miles Scientific Notation: 3.56 x 108 km By Comparison: 0.385 x Earth |
| Minimum/Maximum Surface Temperature | Metric: -173/427 °C English: -279/801 °F Scientific Notation: 100/700 K By Comparison: Earth’s temperature range is ~ 185/331 K. |
| Atmospheric Constituents | By Comparison: Earth’s atmosphere consists mostly of N2, O2 |
References
Encyclopedia Britannica. “Mercury.” 2006. Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service. 2006
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-241980
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (N.A.S.A). “Mercury: Facts & Figures.” 2006.
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Mercury
Zuber, Maria T. “Mercury.” World Book Online Reference Center. 2004. World Book, Inc.
http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar356240
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