Until quite recently, the planet Mercury has been quite a mystery. In the early 1970s, NASA sent the Mariner 10 probe, unlocking many mysteries about this planet. There are still many things to be discovered about the closest planet to the Sun. Here is a list of many amazing Mercury facts that you may be interested in.
Planet Data :
- Planet mass : 3.3022×1023 kg (0.055 earths)
- Density : 5.427 g/cm3
- Surface gravity : 3.7m/s2 (38% of Earth’s gravity)
- Diameter : 4,879km
- Distance from sun : 57.91 million miles
- Surface temperature : -173 to 427 celcius
- Length of year : 88 days
- Length of day : 59 days
- Discovered : 14th century BC (By Assyrian Astronomers)
- Atmosphere : None
- Moons : None
Amazing Mercury facts :
The planet Mercury was named after the Roman god of merchants, as Mercury was the fastest traveling planet in the sky. Other ancient names were also “Udu Idim Gu”in Assyrian cuneiform tablets. In Greek the planet was called Στίλβων as well as Ἑρμάων and Ἑρμής (Hermes).
Mercury is one of five planets that can be seen without the aid of a telescope.
Mercury transits the sun (travels across the face of the sun, in front of earth) approximately every 15 years
Mercury is the smallest non-dwarf planet in our solar system.
For quite some time, it was believed that a small planet was located between the sun and Mecury. They even had a name for it – Vulcan.
There are no seasons on mercury due to it rotating so slowly around the sun. In fact, it is the only planet with this characteristic.
Mercury is the second most dense planet in our solar system.
Only two spacecraft have visited mercury
Until mariner 10 was sent to Mercury in 1973, very little was known at all about this planet. The mariner spacecraft measured the atmosphere (or lack thereof), surface and physical characteristics, took photographs of the planet, measured the magnetic field, plasma field, conducted infrared radiometry and ultraviolet spectroscopy experiments as well.
Mercury Image Gallery