ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Part-3 Basic astronomy knowledge series. Learn about Mercury here.

Updated on January 30, 2014

Mercury's position !!!!

Location of Mercury in solar system

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun or you can say Mercury is the Sun's little neighbor. Mercury is an average distance around 48 million miles away from the earth. Mercury is fastest and innermost planet of our solar system.

Basic about mercury

(1) Mercury is so close to the Sun, in fact that it only takes 88 earth days to complete its journey around the Sun.

(2) It spins on its own axis very slowly but travels around the Sun quickly.

(3) It is located around 58 million kilometer from the Sun.

(4) Mercury has rocky surface similar to our moon and second smallest planet of our solar system.

(5) Mercury is the most difficult to viewed from Earth. Mercury is the brightest object in the Earth's sky. The only time to catch a glimpse of Mercury is at sunset or at dawn, when it is close to the horizon.

(6) There are no rings around Mercury.

(7) Mercury has no moons, means no natural satellite orbiting around the planet.

(8) Mercury has 38% the gravity of Earth and that's why it is difficult for Mercury to hold an atmosphere. Mercury has very thin atmosphere and contains small amount of helium, oxygen and hydrogen.

(9) Mercury has dusty surface dotted with thousands of craters.

(10) The surface temperature of Mercury on daytime is up to 427 degree C but a long night on Mercury may be as low as -185 degree C.

(11) The biggest temperature in the solar system occur on Mercury.

(12) Diameter if Mercury is around 4878 Kilometers.

(13) Mercury has a significant magnetic field. It is string as 1.1% of Earths's and it is strong enough to deflect the solar wind around the planet so creating magnetosphere.

(14) Mercury does not have season like we experience on earth.

(15) No evidence for life has been found on Mercury.

(16) When you stand at surface of Mercury, the Sun will look three times larger than as you seen on Earth.

(17) Results from various mission shows that Mercury has an unexpectedly complex internal structure.




Scientific missions to Mercury

Till there were only two mission launched to study the Mercury .The objectives behind the missions were to study the Mercury surface form orbit, exosphere , geologic history and technological reserach of interplanetary maneuvers.

(1) Space probe Mariner 10

Mariner 10 was the NASA' s space probe lunched in year 1973, to fly around Mercury and Venus.

(2) Messenger spacecraft

Messenger is also NASA' s spacecraft launched in year 2004, to orbit the planet Mercury.

Results from missions :

The messenger mission were conducted to map the surface composition,structure and magnetic field.

Results from the Messenger mission are best described at NASA's website. Thanks to NASA for sharing such great information.

Visit the link capsule.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)