2. Who Discovered Mercury?
• Ancient people found Mercury.
• They found it about 2000 B.C.
• Mercury is visible from Earth, Romans
considered it a god.
3. Where’s Mercury?
• Mercury is the closest planet to the sun.
• Mercury is 0.307 AU from the sun.
• Mercury is 57,910,000 KM from the sun.
• It takes 88 Earth days for it to orbit the
sun.
• One Mercury day is 1407.5 hours.
• Mercury only gets 47 million KM from the
sun.
4. Major And Minor Gases
• Mercury may not have an atmosphere.
• However, there are some types of gases
there.
• The major gases are hydrogen and
oxygen.
• The minor gases are helium and
potassium.
5. Measurements of Mercury
• The mass of Mercury is 328.5E21KG
• The volume is 60,827,742 KM3
• The equatorial circumference is 15,329KM
• The mean density is 5.43 g/cm3
• The gravity on Mercury is 3.7 m/s2
• You would weigh a third of your weight
here on Earth in Mercury
• If you weighed 100 lbs on Earth you would
weigh 38 lbs on Mercury
6. Composition and Atmosphere
• The core of Mercury is mostly made of
Iron and Metallic.
• Mercury has a silicate crust, a magnetic
field, and no plate tectonics. (like the
moon)
• Mercury doesn’t have an atmosphere.
7. Water on Mercury?
• There could be water on Mercury.
• It hasn’t been found.
• But in the shadows it is possible to find
water.
8. Surface Conditions
• In the day time it can get up to 430o
C.
• At night it can get up to -137.2o
C.
• Its surface pressure is 10-14 bar one
nanpascal.
9. Who came up with that name?
• Mercury is named after a Roman
Messenger god.
• They named it that for it’s speed.
11. Exploration
• No one has ever visited the planet
Mercury. However, un-named probes
have been sent to mercury. Mariner 10
was launched by NASA on November
3rd
,1973 and September 21st
1974. Its third
and final fly by was on March 16th
1975.
12. Mercury Vs. Earths Moon
• Mercury and Earth’s Moon are very
similar.
• They both look alike.
• Neither have plate tectonics.
• However, the moon does have an
atmosphere. Scientists have found
unusual gases on the moon. Like sodium
and potassium.