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Mercury
:
In Roman mythology Mercury is the god of commerce, travel and thievery.
Mercury is also known as Hermes, the messenger of the Gods, in Greek
mythology. The planet probably received this name because it moves so
quickly across the sky.
This is the symbol for Mercury:
Mercury is the planet closest to our Sun, and it is the eighth largest of the nine
planets.
Mercury is the planet closest to our Sun, and it is the eighth largest of the
nine planets.
One of Mercury's largest features is called the Caloris Basin. It is about 1300
km across! It was probably created by a very large crash early in the history
of the solar system.
You can see Mercury with a pair of binoculars or even the naked eye.
Because it is always very near the Sun, Mercury may be hard to see in early
evening skies.
Mercury has been visited by the Mariner 10 spacecraft. Mariner 10 has
mapped a little less than half (45%) of Mercury's surface
Scientists think that there may be *volcanic activity* on Mercury. They are
still studying information sent to Earth from the Mariner spacecraft to make
sure.
It was once believed that there was no water on Mercury, but this turned out
to be false. Recent radar information shows evidence of ice at Mercury's
north pole! The ice hasn't melted because it is protected from the Sun's heat
by shadows of some craters.
Unlike many of our nine planets, Mercury has no moons.
The temperature on Mercury ranges from 90 K to 700 K.
Mercury is a small, rocky planet
Mercury, the innermost planet of the solar system, is a little bigger than the
Earth's Moon. The surface of the planet is covered with craters, like the Moon,
but temperatures there can reach over 800°F because Mercury is so close to
the Sun and rotates so slowly. This picture was taken by the MESSENGER
spacecraft in October 2008.
Mercury was the messenger-god of Jupiter, and was the god of games, of
business, and of story telling. Painting by Diego Velazquez (1570) entitled
"Mercury and Argos."
Jupiter
Jupiter (a.k.a. "Jove") was the King of the Roman Gods and the patron of the
Roman state. To the ancient Greeks, he was known as Zeus, ruler of the Greek
Gods and Mount Olympus
This is the symbol for Jupiter:
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by far the largest of all nine
planets. Jupiter is more than twice as massive as all the other planets
combined - It's 318 times bigger than the Earth