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Mercury


            Although there are nine planets in our solar system, only one planet has the distinction of being the closest planet to the sun. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. In roman mythology, Mercury is the god of travel and thievery, the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes, messenger of the Gods. The planet probably received this name because it moves so quickly across the sky.
             Discovering Mercury.
             Johann Hieronymus Schroeter was the first to observe the planet Mercury and record detailed drawings of Mercury's surface features. Schroeter lived from 1745 to 1816. Unfortunately, his sketches were not very accurate (Vesuvius.jsc.nasa.gov/er/she/mercury.html). An astronomer by the name of Eugenios Antoniadi (1870-1944) charted the surface of Mercury in great detail. His maps were used for almost 50 years. He used one of the stronger telescopes of his time and found the canals to be optical illusions (Vesuvius.jsc.nasa.gov/er/she/mercury.html).
             Facts About Mercury.
             Mercury is so close to the sun that you can only see it near sunrise or sunset. Mercury is approximately 57.9 million km from the sun. It is just over a third as far from the sun as the Earth is. If you were on the surface of Mercury, the Sun would look almost three times as big as it does from Earth (www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/). .
             Mercury is approximately 3,031 miles in diameter, which makes it the second smallest planet in our Solar system. Mercury is a bit over one third of the diameter of Earth. Mercury's mass is 3.3 x 10e23kg, which is roughly one twentieth of the mass of Earth. The gravity on Mercury is 38% of the gravity on Earth. A 100 pound person on Mercury would weigh only 38 pounds (www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/). .
             Mercury has a very weak atmosphere and has no moons. Within the atmosphere of Mercury there are trace amounts of helium, hydrogen, sodium, potassium and oxygen. Compared to most planets" atmospheres, Mercury is basically nonexistent.


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