MERCURY

The planet closest to the sun
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. Therefore, the planet is not easy to observe with a telescope. To date, only two spacecraft, Mariner 10 and Messenger, have visited this planet. In 1974, Mariner 10 passed several hundred kilometers from Mercury’s surface. The data and photos sent by Mariner 10 brought great discoveries. The spacecraft sent photos showing planet much reminiscent of the Moon. The surface of the planet on the illuminated surface possesses many craters and pools reminiscent of the Moon. However, there are big differences. Mercury’s mountains are not so high, and “sea areas” are valleys surrounded by plains with a lower density of craters than on the Moon. The planet (unlike the Moon) does not have many craters of 30 and 50 kilometers in size.
Orbit of Mercury
Mercury orbits the Sun at 47.9 km / s. In addition, it is an average of 57.9 million kilometers from the Sun. It is the smallest planet in the solar system, and has almost no atmosphere. Above all, because it has low planetary gravity. If you weighed 100 kg on Earth, you would only weigh 38 kg on planet . This is due to weak gravity. Mercury Day (59 Earth Days) and its year (88 Earth Days) bring interesting details. The planet revolves three times around its axis until it makes exactly two circles around the Sun. The view of the Sun from the planet brings the Sun twice as big as the one we see from the Earth. Planet receives seven times stronger solar rays than the E