Because it’s the closest planet to the sun, it goes around the Sun in just 88 Earth days.The battered surface of Mercury. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Mercury would be about as big as a blueberry. It’s a little bigger than Earth’s Moon. Very large impact basins, including Caloris (960 miles or 1,550 kilometers in diameter) and Rachmaninoff (190 miles, or 306 kilometers in diameter), were created by asteroid impacts on the planet's surface early in the solar system's history. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Mercury would be about as big as a blueberry. Though Mercury's magnetic field at the surface has just one percent the strength of Earth's, it interacts with the magnetic field of the solar wind to sometimes create intense magnetic tornadoes that funnel the fast, hot solar wind plasma down to the surface of the planet. The bright streaks are called "crater rays." They are formed when an asteroid or comet strikes the surface. It looks very similar to the Earth's moon. When the ions strike the surface, they knock off neutrally charged atoms and send them on a loop high into the sky.Along with Venus, Earth, and Mars, Mercury is one of the rocky planets.
Like its fellow terrestrial planets, Mercury has a central core, a rocky mantle and a solid crust.Temperatures on the surface of Mercury are extreme, both hot and cold.
Without an atmosphere to retain that heat at night, temperatures can dip as low as -290°F (-180°C).From an average distance of 36 million miles (58 million kilometers), Mercury is 0.4 astronomical units away from the Sun. There is evidence that it is partly molten, or liquid. The CIRCUMFERENCE of Mercury is 9,525 miles. Mercury is heavy, but it is small. This allows the planet to be found easily, even when using telescopes with 8 cm (3.1 in) apertures. The northern and southern poles lie in constant shadows, allowing ice to build up on their floor. It is made of heavier materials, like iron. List of all Mercury cars & models. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Mercury would be about as big as a blueberry.Mercury's surface resembles that of Earth's moon, scarred by many impact craters resulting from collisions with meteoroids and comets. 0. The morning Sun appears to rise briefly, set and rise again from some parts of the planet's surface. The planet's small size means that its gravity is too weak to hold down a normal atmosphere. Mercury has no rings, no moons, and a relatively weak magnetic field.Mercury is a scarred world covered in craters, ridges, and bright debris from numerous impacts.
This makes it about two-fifths the size of Earth. Mercury takes 59 Earth days to make one full rotation.
It speeds around the Sun every 88 days, traveling through space at nearly 29 miles (47 kilometers) per second, faster than any other planet.Mercury spins slowly on its axis and completes one rotation every 59 Earth days. Mercury has a mean radius of 2,439.7 km in comparison to Earth with a mean radius of 6,371.0 km meaning the size of the planet is equivalent to 38% the size of Earth. They rose as the planet's interior cooled and contracted over the billions of years since Mercury formed.With a radius of 1,516 miles (2,440 kilometers), Mercury is a little more than 1/3 the width of Earth. One Mercury solar day (one full day-night cycle) equals 176 Earth days—just over two years on Mercury.Mercury may have water ice at its north and south poles inside deep craters, but only in regions of permanent shadow.