The name of our
planet in Roman Mythology is the Roman god of commerce, travel, and
thievery. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, it rotates
around the sun faster than any other planet in our solar system. It
takes 1407.5 hours for it to rotate on its axis. Mercury is the
smallest and innermost
planetin our
solar
system. The radius of Mercury is 1,516 mi. Mercurys mass is
3.285 times 10^23 kg. Mercury takes 88 days to rotate the sun
completely. Mercurys distance from the sun is 35.98 million mi.
Mercurys equatorial rotation velocity is 10.892 km/h (3.026 m/s).
Since Mercury is closest to the sun the surface temperatures can be
scorching hot and it can reach 840 degrees Fahrenheit (450 degrees
Celsius). Mercury also doesnt have a real atmosphere to entrap all
that heat.
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Mercury is also
the smallest planet in our solar system, it is slightly larger than
Earths moon in
fact. Astronomers think about 4 billion years ago an asteroid
roughly 60 miles (100 kilometers) wide hit Mercury with an impact
equal to 1 trillion leaving a vast impact crater. The crater is
known as Caloris Basin and the crater can hold the whole state of
Texas. In 2012 NASAs MESSENGER spacecraft discovered that there
are water ice in the craters in the north pole on Mercury. The
north pole on Mercury may be shaded permanently from the sun,
that's why the water ice can be there. The south pole on Mercury
may have also contained water ice but the MESSENGERS orbit didnt
allow scientists to probe the area. Scientists think that comets or
meteorites may have delivered the water ice there. Even though
Mercury is already really small it continues to shrink today.
Mercury is made up of a single continental plate over a cooling
iron core. When the core cools, it solidifies, reducing the
planets volume which causes Mercury to shrink and get
even
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