What are the features of planet mercury?« Back to Questions List

Mercury is the first planet in the solar system and the smallest among all planets. Mercury which is closest to the sun looks much like moon, with crater marks created by asteroid impacts and dark spots. Mercury, which is one of the rocky planets, is almost of the same size of the moon. Mercury has a large iron core of 3600 kms in diameter.  The planet has most inconsistent orbit among all solar planets. The average distance of the planet from the sun is approximately 58 million kilometers

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, but it is not the hottest planet. Venus is hotter compared to Mercury. Ice is found in the craters of Mercury, which is believed to have been delivered by comets. Surface of mercury appears greyish brown to the human eye and it is difficult to have life in the planet. 

A year on Mercury is just 88 Earth days as the planet takes only 88 Earth days to orbit around the sun. The planet takes the shortest time to complete a single course around the sun. However, a day in Mercury is longer compared to that of the earth, as the planet spins on its axis much slowly compared to our earth. One day on Mercury is equivalent to 59 earth days and one day-night cycle takes 175.97 earth days. 

Mercury does not have much activity like volcanic eruption in its core. It is almost a dead world. Among the many craters in the planet, The Caloris Basin has attracted much popular attention. It is a massive crater and scientists believe that the Caloris Basin must have been created by asteroid of minimum 100 kilometers wide. The estimated speed of collusion is 512,000 kilometers per hour. It is believed that when the asteroid hit the planet, molten material flooded out over the shattered surface, forming concentric rings that resulted in the Caloris Basin. A huge mountain range exists opposite to the Caloris Basin formed because of the shock waves created by the impact of the hit. Many other craters on Mercury are named after famous artists, musicians and authors. One such crater is named after Dr. Seuss, famous book author for children where as another one is named after Alvin Ailey, a dance pioneers. 

The closeness of the planet to the sun, makes the planet unbearably hot for humans. Though unmanned spacecraft have travelled up to the planet, scientists are yet to succeed in conducting a comprehensive study of Mercury. Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to fly past Mercury. It flew past the planet thrice between 1974 and 1975. The photographs sent by Mariner 10 revealed the cratered exterior. On March 24, 1975, just eight days after its third approach to the planet, Mariner 10 ran out of fuel. Messenger, another spacecraft launched by NASA in 2004, orbited Mercury over 4000 times and crashed into the planet on April 30, 2015. 

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