MERCURY
Mercury’s characteristics
Mercury is a terrestrial planet this means that it is rocky
with a solid and cratered surface. Mercury has a thin atmosphere which is made up of oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium and potassium. During the day Mercury can reach a temperature of 430 degrees Celsius and then in the night time it can reach as low as -180 degrees Celsius.
Mercury’s place in the solar system
Mercury is the smallest planet that is in our solar system as
well as being the closest to the Sun. The circumference of the smallest planet,
Mercury is 15, 329.1 km. Although it is the closest planet to the sun it is still 57, 910, 000 km away from the sun, this equals to 0.387 AU.
Mercury’s spin and orbit
Mercury spins around on itself. The time it takes Mercury to spin around is 59 Earth days. That means that 1 day on Mercury is equal to 59 days on Earth. Mercury also travels around the sun in an ‘orbit’ while it is spinning. It takes Mercury 88 Earth days to orbit around the Earth this means that one year on Mercury is only 88 days.
Photo of Mercury obtained from:
http://www.cosmicelk.net/mercury.jpg
Mercury’s characteristics
Mercury is a terrestrial planet this means that it is rocky
with a solid and cratered surface. Mercury has a thin atmosphere which is made up of oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium and potassium. During the day Mercury can reach a temperature of 430 degrees Celsius and then in the night time it can reach as low as -180 degrees Celsius.
Mercury’s place in the solar system
Mercury is the smallest planet that is in our solar system as
well as being the closest to the Sun. The circumference of the smallest planet,
Mercury is 15, 329.1 km. Although it is the closest planet to the sun it is still 57, 910, 000 km away from the sun, this equals to 0.387 AU.
Mercury’s spin and orbit
Mercury spins around on itself. The time it takes Mercury to spin around is 59 Earth days. That means that 1 day on Mercury is equal to 59 days on Earth. Mercury also travels around the sun in an ‘orbit’ while it is spinning. It takes Mercury 88 Earth days to orbit around the Earth this means that one year on Mercury is only 88 days.
Photo of Mercury obtained from:
http://www.cosmicelk.net/mercury.jpg