The Pages of The Gray Wizard

Mercury

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Mercury

  At only 58 million km, Mercury is closest of the planets to the sun, but few skywatchers can boast of spotting this elusive planet on more than isolated occasions. 
 
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and is less than half the size of Earth. It has no moons, no atmosphere, and since it is so close to the Sun it is an extremely hot planet. The typical midday temperature on Mercury is over 750 degrees. Mercury is only visible briefly after sunset or before sunrise depending on the time of year. Mercury can be seen to go through phases similar to Venus but even with the largest telescope available, no surface detail can be revealed. Mariner 10 however took photos of the planet that show craters that are similar to our Moon. It is thought that its interior was once molten from lava that once flooded the surface.
 
mercury.jpg (18144 bytes)

"Image courtesy Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 
Copyright (c) California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. All rights reserved."

[click on thumbnail for larger image]

Mercury Facts

Distance from Earth

0.39 AU

Apparent Magnitude

-2 to +3

Mass

0.06 x Earth's mass
3.3 x 1023 kg

Mercury Day

58.65 Earth days

Radius

0.38 x Earth's radius
4878 km diameter

Mercury Year

87.97 Earth days

Apparent Size

5-13 arcsecs

Orbit

57,910,000 km
0.38 AU