Mercury is the planet in the Solar System closest to the Sun. Below we have selected the main curiosities about it.
It’s as big as America
Mercury is a very small planet. Its diameter is 3,876 kilometers , so it is about the size of the United States. To get an idea of what this means, planet Earth has a diameter of 12,742 kilometers.
Its core is made of iron
Mercury’s core is huge, occupying 75% of its radius , so the crust is very thin, like a candy wrapper. Despite being much smaller than Earth, it is the second densest planet in the Solar System. Its core is made up mostly of iron.
It has no moons
One of the most curious facts about Mercury is that it does not have a single natural satellite . As scientists have found, this is explained by three factors: its small size, its low gravity and its thin atmosphere. It also has no stations because its axis is barely inclined.
A year lasts 88 days … And a day 176 days
The time it takes for Mercury to go around the Sun one full circle is 88 days , so this is how long a year lasts. Now, it takes 176 days to complete a sunrise-sunset cycle and 58 days to complete a rotation.
It has hundreds of craters
Mercury is the planet in the Solar System with the highest number of craters. Its atmosphere is very fine and thin, so throughout history thousands of comets and asteroids have impacted on its surface. The largest crater on record is called Caloris. It was discovered in 1974 and is 1,550 kilometers in diameter.
The temperatures are extreme
Mercury is very close to the Sun, so that during the day surface temperatures can reach 450 degrees . Now, the most surprising thing of all is that, when night falls, temperatures plummet to 170 degrees. It is the planet in the Solar System with the greatest fluctuation in temperature.
It has a tail
And finally, it should be noted that Mercury’s exosphere is a very thin atmosphere in which molecules and atoms are so far apart that they are more likely to crash into the surface before colliding with each other. The material comes for the most part from Mercury’s own surface.
