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MERCURY
The innermost planet of the Solar System, and also one
of the four terrestrial (Meaning you can walk on the
planet) planets. An inferior planet that acts as both an
evening star and a morning star, but also harder to see
than our planets cousin Venus. Aside from having an
equatorial radius of 2,439.7 km, it also consists of 70%
metallic, and silicate materials. The planet’s density is
the second highest in our Solar System at 5.427 g/cm3.
While the Earths high density results appreciably to
Gravitational compression.
Internal structure of Mercury:
1. Crust:100-300km thick
2. Mantle:600km thick
3.Core:1,800km Radius
Too many words. Use keywords only
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MERCURY
Take note:
• I did not cram the slide with too much info. Instead, make more
slides.
• I increased the image size- this makes the report more interesting.
• I increased the font size- this makes it more readable (keep in mind
your audience at the back of the room).
• Innermost planet
• One of the four terrestrial planets
• Inferior planet
• etc.
Surface Geology
Mercury looks like the moon, showing
craters and extensive mare-like plains.
Since, our knowledge of Mercury is based
on the old 1975 Mariner flyby and
terrestrial observations, that is why it is
the least understood of the four terrestrial
planets. Names for Mercury come from a
this with images. Too many
variety of sources. ItBalance
was heavily
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bombarded by asteroids
and comets and
shortly after, it’s formation followed 4.6
billion years ago, also 3.8 billion years ago
came the late heavy bombardment came.
Data from the October 2008 flyby from MESSENGER gave
researchers a greater appreciation for the jumbled nature of
Mercury’s surface.
Impact Basins and
Craters
Craters of Mercury range via diameter from
Here are some
bowl-shaped cavities called “Impact Basins”.
examples of craters on
The largest known crater is called Coralis Basin.
Mercury.
Having a diameter of 1,550 km. The impact that
made the crater was so strong it made lava
eruptions
and left a concentric ring 2km around
Cite the sources
of your images.
the crater. 15 craters have been spotted in
Mercury.
Plains
There are only two distinct plains on
Mercury.
1. Rolling, hilly plains in the regions
between craters and the oldest
visible surfaces on Mercury.
Inter
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craters appear to have
destroyed
errors
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earlier craters
2. Smooth plains are widespread flat areas
which cover depressions of many sizes.
Surface conditions and
“atmosphere” (exosphere)
The surface temp of Mercury ranges from 100K700K because of the absence of an atmosphere
and a steep temp gradient between the equator ,
North, and South poles. The sub solar temp
during perihelion is about 700K while, it is 550K
at aphelion. The daylight temp of Mercury is
extremely high. Observations show that ice
exists on Mercury. The floors of deep craters are
not fully exposed to direct sunlight. Mercury is
too hot for it to have an atmosphere. Over long
times it can have an exosphere with lots of
chemicals in it.
The discovery of polar ice on
Mercury.
Magnetic field and
Magnetosphere
It has a small size and a very long 59-day long
rotation, it has an apparently global magnetic
field. Mariner 10 made measurements and
according to him ,it is 1.1% as strong as Earth.
It’s magnetic field is generated by an effect called
the Dynamo effect. It means that a celestial body
can generate a magnetic field. This would result
from the circulation of the planet’s iron-rich
liquid core. Mercury’s magnetic field is strong
enough to deflect the solar wind around the
planet. The planets magnetic field is small
enough to fit the Earth just right, it is also strong
enough to trap the solar wind plasma.
This graph is showing the
strength of Mercury’s
magnetic field.
Orbit and Rotation
Mercury having the most eccentric orbit
of all the planets. It’s eccentricity is
0.21with it’s distance from the Sun which
is about 46 to 70 million km away. It
takes about 87.969 Earth days to complete
one orbit in Mercury. The planets orbit is
7 degrees inclined to the plane of the
Earth’s orbit. As a result, transits of the
planet across the face of the Sun only
occurs when Mercury is crossing the
ecliptic plane at the time it lies between
the Earth and the Sun. It only occurs
every 7 years (average). The planets axial
tilt is only about 0.027 degrees.
Spin-orbit
resonance
For a lot of years now, it was
thought that Mercury was
tidally locked with the Sun, it
rotates once every orbit and
always keeping the same face
directed towards the Sun. The
main reason why astronomers
thought it was synchronously
locked with the Sun is because,
whenever Mercury was best
placed for observation, it was
always nearly at the same point
in it’s 3:2 resonance. Because of
Mercury’s 3:2 spin-orbit
resonance, a solar day is about
176 Earth days.
THE END
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