The mass of Mercury. Radius of the planet Mercury

Mercury is closest to the Sun. What is interesting about this planet? What is the mass of Mercury and its distinctive features? Find out more ...

Features of the planet

From Mercury begins the counting of the planets of the solar system. The distance from the Sun to Mercury is 57.91 million km. It's pretty close, so the temperature on the surface of the planet reaches 430 degrees.

According to some characteristics, Mercury is similar to the Moon. Satellites are absent, the atmosphere is very low and the surface is riddled with craters. The largest has a width of 1550 km from the asteroid, which crashed into the planet about 4 billion years ago.

The discharged atmosphere does not allow to retain heat, therefore at night Mercury is very cold. The difference in night and day temperatures reaches 600 degrees and is the largest in our planetary system.

The mass of Mercury is 3.33 · 10 ²³ kg. This indicator makes the planet the easiest and smallest (after Pluto's loss of the planet's title) in our system. The mass of Mercury is 0.055 from the earth's. The size of the planet is not much more than a natural satellite of the Earth. The average radius of the planet Mercury is 2439.7 km.

In the bowels of Mercury contains a large number of metals, which form its core. It is the second planet in density, after the Earth. The core is about 80% of Mercury.

Observations of Mercury

The planet is known to us under the name Mercury - this is the name of the Roman god-messenger. Observed the planet in the XIV century BC. The Sumerians called Mercury in astrological tables a "jumping planet". Later it was named after the god of writing and wisdom "Naboo".

The Greeks gave the planet a name in honor of Hermes, calling it "Hermione". The Chinese called it the "Morning Star", the Indians - Budha, the Germans identified with Odin, and the Mayas - with the owl.

Before the invention of the telescope, European researchers found it difficult to observe Mercury. For example, Nikolai Copernicus, describing the planet, used the observations of other scientists, not from the northern latitudes.

The invention of the telescope greatly facilitated the life of astronomers, researchers. For the first time from the telescope, Mercury was observed by Galileo Galilei in the 17th century. After him, the planet was observed: Giovanni Zupi, John Bevis, Johann Schroeter, Giuseppe Colombo, and others.

The close location from the Sun and the infrequent appearance in the sky have always created difficulties for the study of Mercury. For example, the famous Hubble telescope can not recognize objects so close to our luminary.

In the 20th century radar methods were used to study the planet, which made it possible to observe the object from the Earth. Spacecraft to send to the planet is not easy. This requires special manipulation, which consumes a lot of fuel. In the whole history, only two ships visited Mercury: "Mariner-10" in 1975 and "Messenger" in 2008.

Mercury in the night sky

The apparent magnitude of the planet is from -1.9 ^m to 5.5 ^m , which is quite enough to see it from Earth. However, it is not easy to consider it because of the small angular distance with respect to the Sun.

The planet is visible for a short time, after the twilight comes. At low latitudes and near the equator, the day lasts the least, therefore in these places it is easier to see Mercury. The higher the latitude, the harder it is to observe the planet.

In the middle latitudes, "catch" Mercury in the sky can be a period of equinox, when twilight is the shortest. You can see it several times a year, both in the early morning and in the evening, in periods when it is as far from the sun as possible.

Conclusion

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. The mass of Mercury is the smallest of the planets of our system. The planet was observed long before the beginning of our era, however, certain conditions are needed to see Mercury. Therefore, it is the least studied of all the terrestrial planets.