HETANEWS.com – The fact that Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun has a very hot temperature, and at the same time it is the smallest planet in the Solar System.
This small, cratered planet has no satellites and orbits the Sun faster than any other planet in the Solar System.
That’s why the Romans later named him after the agile messenger god, Mercury.
Mercury planet facts
But apart from that, of course there are still facts about Mercury. Everything, as quoted from Space, Thursday (9/3/2023).
How hot is Mercury
Since this planet is so close to the Sun, Mercury’s surface temperature can reach 450 degrees Celsius.
In fact, because the planet Mercury doesn’t have an atmosphere to trap heat, at night temperatures can drop to minus 170 degrees Celsius. This temperature change of more than 600 degrees Celsius is the most massive change in the Solar System.
Full of craters
An interesting fact about Mercury is that its surface is filled with craters. Even though it is the smallest planet in the Solar System, it is only slightly larger than the Moon.
Lacking an atmosphere to stop plants from growing, the planet is full of craters.
About 4 billion years ago, an asteroid about 100 km wide hit Mercury with an impact equivalent to 1 trillion 1 megaton bombs. The impact created a crater about 1,550 km wide known as the Caloris Basin.
Planetary surface
The 2016 study points to the fact that the planet’s surface features are generally divided into two groups: older material that melted at higher pressures at the core-mantle boundary, and newer material that formed closer to Mercury’s surface.
Other studies have also found an interesting fact from this planet, that the dark hue of Mercury’s surface is caused by carbon which may be left over from the planet’s primordial crust.
Mercury’s atmosphere
Mercury has no substantial atmosphere, the planet only has an ultra-thin ‘exosphere’ made up of atoms ejected by solar radiation, solar wind, and micrometeoroid impacts.
The exosphere contains 42 percent oxygen, 29 percent sodium, 22 percent hydrogen, 6 percent helium, 0.5 percent potassium, with possibly trace amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, xenon, krypton and neon.
The second densest planet after Earth
Mercury is the second densest planet after Earth. In fact, the planet has a massive metal core roughly 3,600 to 3,800 km wide or about 75 percent of the planet’s diameter.
In comparison, Mercury’s outer shell is only 500 to 600 km thick.
The combination of its massive core and composition that includes many volatile elements has also puzzled scientists for years.
Orbit Mercury
The planet Mercury revolves around the Sun at a speed of 180,000 km/hour. These facts show that Mercury’s revolution is faster than that of any other planet.
Its oval-shaped orbit brings Mercury as close as 47 million km and as far as 70 million km from the Sun.
In 2016, a rare transit of Mercury occurred, in which the planet crosses the face of the sun as seen from Earth.
This transit of Mercury may have revealed secrets about its thin atmosphere.
