Category Archives: Mercury

Mercury: Smallest planet in our solar system

There are eight planets in our solar system, and Mercury is the smallest of them all. It was named after the Roman god Mercury, who was the messenger of the gods. Even though it is small, Mercury is an interesting planet with a lot of history! In this article, we will discuss some of its most important characteristics. Stay tuned to learn more about this fascinating little planet!

Smallest planet in our solar system
Image Credit: NASA

Mercury Discovery and Naming

The first recorded observations of Mercury were made by the Babylonians in about 700 BCE, who thought it was the planet Vulcan. However, it was not until 1543 that Copernicus proposed that Mercury orbited the Sun, and not Earth as had been previously believed. It wasn’t until 1631 that Galileo observed Mercury with a telescope, and was able to confirm that Copernicus was correct.

In Roman mythology, Mercury is the messenger of the gods. He is also known as the god of commerce and thieves. The planet Mercury was named after him. The symbol for Mercury is a stylized version of his head and winged helmet.

Mercury Diameter & mass

Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system. It has a diameter of only 4879 kilometers, which is about a third of Earth’s diameter. Mercury also has a mass of only 0.55 times that of Earth. This makes it the smallest and least massive planet in our solar system.

Mercury is very dense for its size. This is because it has a large iron core. The iron core takes up about 60% of Mercury’s volume. This makes Mercury’s surface very smooth. Mercury also has a thin mantle and an even thinner crust.

Composition

Mercury is made of mostly rock and iron. It has a very thin atmosphere made up of oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, and helium. There is no water on Mercury. The surface of Mercury is very smooth. This is because it has been heavily cratered by impacts from space over the years.

Climate

 Mercury’s surface is covered in craters. These craters were caused by collisions with comets and asteroids. Mercury has a very thin atmosphere, which means that it doesn’t have any weather.

The temperature on Mercury varies widely. The side of Mercury that faces the Sun can get as hot as 430 degrees Celsius.

The side of Mercury that faces away from the Sun can get as cold as -180 degrees Celsius. Mercury is a very dry planet. There is no water on its surface. However, there may be ice at the poles.

Jupiter’s orbit & Rotation

Its orbital period around the Sun of 87.97 days is the shortest of all the planets in the Solar System. It is also the closest planet to the Sun.

Mars Observation & visit

 Mercury is one of the hardest planets to visit. It is very difficult to land a spacecraft on Mercury’s surface because of the extreme temperatures.

In 1974 & 1975, the American spacecraft, Mariner 10, became the first to visit Mercury. On the other hand, Messenger launched in 2004 and orbited Mercury for four years, and took over a thousand pictures before running out of fuel and crashing into the planet’s surface in 2015.

In 2011, the MESSENGER spacecraft made a controlled crash landing on Mercury’s surface. This was the first time that a spacecraft had landed on Mercury.

The BepiColombo mission is scheduled to launch in 2018. It will study Mercury’s surface and environment in more detail than ever before.

Conclusion| Smallest planet in our solar system

There is still much we don’t know about Mercury, but scientists hope to learn more about this planet in the future. Who knows what secrets Mercury may hold? We can’t wait to find out!

Transit of Mercury

The transit of Mercury is in a straight line crossing the orbit of Mercury with the Earth and the Sun during the movement of the Sun. As Mercury moves in the face of the Earth, Mercury hides a small part of the Sun in front of the viewer of the Earth (as it happens during the solar eclipse). The Mercury looks like a black dot compared to the large radius of the sun. This black dot is only 0.1 percent subject to the sun’s radium. Transit can be seen from the part of the world where the day will be.

Since Mercury and Venus are located between the Earth and the Sun, we can only see in this type of phenomenon of Mercury and Venus from the Earth. Mercury is moving closer to the sun. The Venus is after Mercury. In the case of Mercury, these transitions occur much more frequently than the transit of Venus, occurring approximately 13-14 times per century. Transitions to Mercury occur in May or November.

Last, the transit of Mercury is seen on Monday, November 11, 2019. Skywatchers around the world, including the United States, Africa and Europe, had the opportunity to witness the rare heavenly phenomenon. It starts at 12:00 PM and ends at 6:00 PM of GMT time.

It will be seen again on November 13, 2032, after the 11th of November, 2019. Earlier, there are three more transits of Mercury were seen in this century the date on May 9, 2016, November 08, 2006 and May 07, 2003. Mercury takes 88 days to orbits the sun. As a result, the transit of Mercury is expected to be seen every 88 days. But we do not always see because it orbits another way.

The transit of Mercury is not visible to the naked eye. It can be seen in certain telescopes and binoculars. But in this case, the special warning is that the Sun filter must be added to the telescope and binoculars. Without the filter, you cannot try to see. In this case, you will lose sight of your eyes forever. If you do not have experience in this regard, it is best not to look at the sun.