New research on the asteroids that smashed into the young Mercury could resolve another mystery, too: why the planet has an abnormally large core despite its small size. “You’ll end up with a messy mixture of graphite, diamond, and maybe some other phases as well, so you won’t have nice, beautiful crystals that you could polish up and put on a ring,” Cannon says. That’s because the diamonds are probably impure. Temperature and commuting issues aside, space miners probably won’t want to head to Mercury anytime soon, despite the copious carbon that allowed crystal creation. By contrast, on Earth diamonds only arise from carbon deep underground, under intense pressure. But Mercury seems to have ended up with lots of carbon embedded in the rind of the planet, rather than lower down, Lark says. On many planets, most of the carbon ends up becoming part of the metallic core in the mantle above it. The metals sank and eventually built the planet’s core, with the rocks solidifying on top. Photograph: NASAĪs Mercury was forming, elements joined together mostly as metals or rocks. NASA's Messenger spacecraft orbited Mercury between 20. The graphite could have been more than 300 feet thick, and the asteroids’ impact pressure would have been enough to turn 30 to 60 percent of it into what he calls “shock diamonds.” In his work in progress, Cannon modeled the effects of frequent impacts on the upper 12 miles of Mercury’s crust over billions of years. But unlike elsewhere, a layer of graphite floated atop all that molten rock. Like many other worlds in our solar system, including our own, the young Mercury was covered with oceans of magma, which later cooled and hardened. During a violent, destructive period called the Late Heavy Bombardment, Mercury took maybe twice as much battering as the moon did-and our lunar neighbor is completely pockmarked with craters. But these mind-boggling stats aren’t what set it apart, geologically speaking: It’s the planet’s abundant carbon (in the form of graphite) and the extreme pummeling it received from asteroids some 4 billion years ago. Daytime temperatures reach 800 degrees Fahrenheit-second only to Venus-while Mercury’s lack of an atmosphere means nighttime temperatures plunge to -290 Fahrenheit. This is because Mercury is too close to the Sun and the brightness would harm the electrical components of the telescope.The diminutive planet is smaller than two of the moons in our solar system ( Titan and Ganymede), and it’s known for its short years and long days, orbiting the sun every 88 Earth days and rotating every 59. The Hubble Space Telescope cannot view Mercury. Mercury is the second densest planet after Earth.ġ9. The surface temperature of Mercury ranges from -173 to 427☌. The planet makes three complete rotations on its axis per every two orbital revolutions.ġ7. Since Mercury’s orbit is within Earth’s orbit, it can be viewed from Earth in the early morning or the late evening, but never in the middle of the nighttime.ġ6. This is a sign that Mercury has been geologically dormant for billions of years.ġ5. The surface of the planet is covered in craters much like those seen on Earth’s moon. (Multiply your actual weight by 0.38).ġ4. If you weigh 100 lbs, your weight on Mercury would be 38 lbs. First it was Copernicus who noticed orbiting planet in the early 16th century and then Galileo was the first to observe Mercury during the 17th century.ġ3. Mercury is known as a terrestrial planet consisting of about 70% metallic and 30% silicate material.ġ2. Mercury’s minimum distance from Earth = 77 million km (48 million miles).ġ1. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, the maximum distance from the Sun = 70 million km (43.5 million miles).ġ0. A day, from sunrise to sunrise, on Mercury is equivalent to 176 Earth Days.ĩ. Mercury orbits the sun once every 87.97 Earth Days.Ĩ. Mercury is often identified with the Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the gods in Roman mythology.ħ. The first visit to Mercury was a flyby made by the Mariner 10 spacecraft in 1974.Ħ. The diameter of Planet Mercury is 4,878 km (3,031 miles).ĥ. Mercury has no atmosphere and no known satellites, perhaps because of its proximity to the Sun.Ĥ. The orbital speed of Mercury is 47.8 km/sec (29.7 miles/sec).ģ. Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System.Ģ.
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