Facts About Mercury
posted in Amazing Facts, Latest News |According to the Roman mythology Mercury is the god of commerce, travel and robbery, the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the Gods. The planet perhaps received this name because it moves so quickly across the sky.
Mercury has been identified from the time when of the Sumerians. Only one space craft has visited Mercury and that is Mariner 10. It flew by three times in 1973 and 1974. Only 45% of the surface was recorded as it is too close to the Sun to be safely imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.
• Some astronomers believed that the surface of Mercury would be smooth before pictures were taken of its surface.
• When Mariner 10 took pictures of Mercury during its flyby of Venus and Mercury in November 1973, scientists discovered that Mercury is the most cratered planet in the Solar System with a surface similar to Earth’s Moon.
• Mercury has no atmosphere at all. Sunlight reflects off its surface, similar to how light is reflected directly off the Moon’s surface.
• The lack of atmosphere means that sunlight cannot be spread through the atmosphere. The planet’s sky is dark, just like the Moon’s.
• A year on Mercury is only 88 days long, but a full day (from sunset to sunrise) takes 176 days, even though the planet takes 59 days to rotate on its axis.
• We can see the Mercury only after the Sun rise and just before the sun sets.
• The sun would appear two and a half times bigger than on earth when seen in Mercury.
• Regardless of the fact that it’s the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury is not the warmest. Venus is warmer. Mercury can be one of the coldest planets in the Solar System