What Color Is Mercury
Mercury has some brilliant colors
The Mercury substance, which is liquid at room temperature, is silver. Then what’s the color of Mercury the planet? Mercury’s surface was made billions of years ago after the formation of the Solar System. Over billions of years, no activity such as tectonic erosion has occurred in Mercury. It was only reshaped by occasional meteorite impact. Its molten surface was cooled and hardened and became the shape that is now. Unlike many of the planets in the Solar System, Mercury is made out of rock. It does have a weak and fragile atmosphere but the space based observations shows rocky, gray color surface. Mercury has a dark gray surface that is broken up by large and small craters. With occasional lighter gray color pieces, the overall color of Mercury’s surface is just textures of gray.
If you look at a picture of the Moon and the picture of the planet Mercury, you can find that they look very similar. It is because Mercury’s color and the surface are very similar to the Moon. They both are rocky gray and have broken up craters. However, there are some differences between them. The moon, unlike Mercury, has lot of darker areas, or what astronomers call “seas”. It is because the Moon has a lot of lava flows that creates those dark areas. Also, the Moon has more variety of colors compared to Mercury.
Some New Discoveries about Mercury
In the realm of space, there is much more that is unknown than is known. Even in today’s world of modern technology, scientists can still only speculate to the number of stars in the sky and are still bewildered by the mysterious workings of black holes. In a universe that extends beyond our wildest imaginations, unknowns are a given, but a surprising fact is there are still many things that remain unknown in our own solar system. In the case of Mercury, which is only two planets away from our own planet, there was, and continues to be a great deal of mysteries. The Mariner probe was able to take images of the planet after flying by in 1974, but these low quality images were only clues into the history and formation of the planet. Luckily, some of the questions about Mercury’s existence are being answered by the MESSENGER space probe. After launching in 2004, the MESSENGER has successfully entered the orbit of Mercury–being the first space craft to do so–and has been gathering data ever since. The combination of photographs and other observations have allowed for many new discoveries about the planet, as well as hints about its past.
Many of the discoveries about Mercury can be linked to physical features captured by the MESSENGER probe. Across Mercury’s surface, images were retrieved exposing volcanic planes. The presence of proof of such extensive volcanic activity confirms many scientists’ theories that volcanoes were responsible for shaping much of the planet in its early years. Additionally, for the first time, large clusters of rimless pits are also found littered throughout Mercury. Although scientists are not sure how these pits were formed, it is a clue into the composition of Mercury’s crust, which may be more variable than previously expected.
Photographic images are not the only source of new information for scientists, X-Ray scans have also allowed for scientists to learn new information about the composition of Mercury’s surface. These discoveries include higher sulfur content in the surface than previously expected and important differences in magnesium, aluminum and calcium levels than the moon. Scans have also revealed higher concentrations of potassium than expected, which have proven to eliminate some of the previous theories about the planet’s creation.
Some of the most surprising discoveries about Mercury have been in the realm of magnetic fields and energetic particles. Unlike Earth, which has a magnetic field at the center of the planet, Mercury actually has a magnetic field that starts 300 miles north of the equator. This results in a north-south asymmetry for the magnetic field. Mercury’s unique magnetic field makes the southern side of the planet more susceptible to charged particles heated by solar wind, which affects the planet’s atmosphere. As the MESSENGER has orbited around Mercury it has witnessed multiple cases of bursting energetic particles. These bursts occur at varying strengths and distributions and consist of electrons, not electric ions. In the coming weeks, scientists will push to try and understand where these bursts are being generated from.
Data collected by MESSENGER is helping to piece together the pieces of the Mercury mystery. With more time and data collection, scientists may soon be able to accurately answer the questions on how the planet was formed and how its history has formed its geological features of today.
Ice Found on Mercury
Many aspects of the planet Mercury have remained a mystery to scientists. While vast amounts of knowledge were being accumulated about Venus and Mars, Mercury was left unexplored. The limits of modern science in the 1960‘s and beyond forced the idea of exploring Mercury to be shelved until very recently. Though previously hindered by the extreme heat and distance of Mercury from Earth, the 2004 MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) program would create the first opportunity for scientists to get a close up view of the planet. From Mercury’s orbit, Messenger was able to take photographs that hopefully would provide insight into the planet and its history. The result is over 20,000 images that allowed for a detailed view of Mercury’s surface and the geological features that accompany it. The pictures also revealed a feature that scientists would have previously considered unimaginable; ice.
Prior to the findings of Messenger, many theories about Mercury were based more on common sense and speculation than actual data. The fact that the planet is located so near to the sun, led many scientists to believe that the planet was a charred mass with a lava concentrated center. According to this theory, a planet as hot as Mercury would then not be able to support any type of water. Although this long accepted theory was logical, recent data suggests that it is widely incorrect. Recent findings have led scientists to conclude that Mercury is potentially covered with portions of ice. This surprising discovery was made by the MESSENGER probe, and subsequently crushed many preconceived notions about the planet. The ice was discovered in areas of impact craters near Mercury’s poles. The amount of ice on Mercury is believed to be greater than that on our moon, however; with temperatures as high as 427°C, it seems nearly impossible for ice to survive. Scientists have formulated an explanation to this seeming contradiction. Though the planet is under a constant barrage from the sun, there are portions of the planet that lie permanently in shadow. The north and south poles of Mercury are two examples of these areas, explaining for the presence of the ice.
The implications of this discovery go far beyond the issue of frozen water. Many of the photos sent from MESSENGER are completely changing the way scientists understand the planet Mercury. Though the planet would seem to be without much personality, due to the fact that it is so close to the sun, it actually has a variety of mysteries. Mercury is one of the densest planets in our solar system, along with being the smallest planet to have a magnetic field. The fact that there are ice sheets on the planet’s poles only adds to Mercury’s intrigue. As time goes on, and hopefully with more help from the MESSENGER probe and other sources, scientists can solve the mystery of Mercury and understand what cosmic events led to the planet being the way it is seen today.
Mercury Information
The smallest planet Mercury, which is slightly larger than the Moon is known as the closest planet to the Sun. The diameter of Mercury is 4,878 km, which is only 38% of Earth’s diameter. Since the characteristics of space do not let it entrap heat, Mercury’s temperature varies a lot throughout the day. The temperature goes up to 840 degrees Fahrenheit or 450 degrees Celsius because it is so close to the sun. However, the temperature goes down to - 275 degrees Fahrenheit or - 170 degrees Celsius. A very interesting fact about Mercury is that although it is very close to the Sun, there is a possibility that Mercury might have ice in its craters.
Mercury is known as the second densest planet in the Solar System. It has a huge metallic core that is about 2400 miles or 2800 km wide, which is about 75% of Earth’s diameter. Mercury has a magnetic field that is just 1% of the strength of Earth’s magnetic field. This creates fast and powerful magnetic tornadoes which guides to hot plasma of the solar wind. Mercury orbits around the sun every 88 days, which makes it travel 12,000 miles or 180,000 km per hour. Unlike other planets, Mercury has an exosphere that is made out of atoms which is not a substantial atmosphere. Those atoms escape into the space by the solar wind that forms a tail of particles on Mercury. Unlike some planets, Mercury does not have any rings or moons.
The Mercury Capsule
Following World War II, America’s economy boomed and with this new found prosperity came a great deal of improvements. During the 1950s suburbs quickly sprouted up around major U.S. cities, highways were being developed and Americans generally shared in comfort that they had not seen in much time. America’s advantageous position also allowed for another interest to gain notoriety–space. The late 1950s was characterized by a great deal of spending on programs to realize America’s goals of space investigation. This was never truer than in the case of the Project Mercury, which was dedicated to the goal of placing the first man in space.
Project Mercury was the first of its kind and in order to safely allow the first human to orbit the Earth, Project Mercury had to do extensive testing and trial runs. Scientists spent years developing designs and technology that would be able to achieve the seemingly impossible task of safely sending a man into the Earth’s orbit and returning him safely. In the end, scientists and engineers came together to design, what would be known as, the Mercury capsule. The Mercury capsule was very small, without the luxury of much room for the pilot and as a result, the first astronauts could not be more than 5’11’‘tall in order to fit in the capsule. Upon launch, the capsule was placed on top of a booster rocket system that would propel the capsule into space, where it could then disengage and enter orbit. Though six of the Mercury flights were eventually piloted by humans, 20 flights were unmanned and some contained monkeys and chimpanzees. In total the program cost nearly $400 million dollars, which reaches a present day equivalent well into the billion dollar range.
When Project Mercury was deemed safe enough to use human pilots, the program began to inch more steadily to its goal. On May 5, 1961, the Project Mercury launched Mercury-Redstone 3, which resulted in the first American in suborbital space flight. Another successful manned suborbital flight in July of the same year allowed the program to have the confidence to move on. On February 20, 1962, Mercury-Atlas 6 was launched and within hours, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. He did three complete rotations before returning into the atmosphere. Project Mercury would have a total of three more manned flights with the final flight, Mercury-Atlas 9, leading to Gordan Cooper becoming the first American in space for over a day with 22 orbits around the planet.
Project Mercury would go on to have its last three missions canceled, but the program was considered to be largely successful. After producing a long list of firsts, such as first American in suborbital and orbital flight, the program gave the United States space program confidence to flourish. The American people could sit in awe as their country sent men into space and dreamt of future possibilities. In fact, the future would be bright for NASA, as Project Mercury would be the stepping stone for the Apollo missions that would soon send the first man to the moon.
The Movement Of Mercury And Venus
The movement of the planets is something that has been studied for thousands of years; the Aztecs, Greeks and modern astronomers have all studied the planets to have a better understanding of the solar system. A large part of understanding the movement of the planets, is understanding how their orbit differs from our own planet. Closer planets orbit around the sun in significantly less time than Earth, while others take exponentially longer. As a result, the ability to see these planets from Earth is often affected. In the case of Mercury and Venus, this is especially true.
Mercury and Venus are known as inferior planets. This title comes from the fact that these planets are closer to the sun than the Earth, but it also comes with some unique features. Unlike the other planets in the solar system, Mercury and Venus have the capability to pass directly between the Earth and the sun. As a result, in rare cases, it is possible to see tiny dark spots pass across the sun. Superior planets, which refer to the remaining planets behind the Earth, do not share this capability.
Mercury and Venus also share a feature that is more widely known for our moon; both of these planets cycle through phases similar to the moon. As Mercury and Venus follow through their orbits, they pass through a variety of points that effect how they are seen from Earth. Each position for inferior planets is determined in relationship to the sun. These phases correspond with four positions known as the aspects of the inferior planet. These phases include: Inferior conjunction, which refers to the position where the planets cannot be seen because the dark side of the planet is facing Earth; a crescent moon-like phase that involves the inferior planet being seen in the west of the morning sky; a quarter-moon phase when the planet is at its greatest angular separation from the sun; and a full moon phase as the planet recedes from Earth. Superior planets do not appear in phases to observers because, unlike inferior planets, the dark side of superior planets are almost never faced towards Earth.
Understanding the movement of inferior planets has allowed scientists to understand Mercury’s and Venus’ various phases that have been witnessed from the time of the earliest astronomers. On a less scientific level, understanding the planets can allow one to understand what they are looking at in the night sky. While looking at a clear night sky, it is possible for the trained eye to spot various planets as bright, star-like flickers, but for the path of inferior planets such as Mercury and Venus, this becomes more difficult. A common mistake is looking for an inferior planet while it is in low visibility phase, such as inferior conjunction, but knowing the four positions of inferior planets can allow one to predict the position of Mercury and Venus. Whether you are an everyday stargazer trying to alleviate the stress of searching tirelessly for planets in the sky or trying to predict the next time Venus or Mars passed the sun, it is necessary to understand the movement of the these planets.
|
