What color is mercury? Interesting facts about the planet

Space has always attracted its mystery and suspense. For many centuries people have been trying to unravel its mysteries. Today, with the development of the space industry, the study of the Solar system and distant galaxies out to a completely different level. Of course, much remains unknown and hidden from our understanding, but still ahead.

In this article we consider one of the planets of the Solar system-mercury. You will learn a lot about the body: how long lasts the day and year, does he have satellites and rings, and more.

What planet from the Sun?

Mercury – it is the smallest planet in the Solar system. Until 2006 the title was worn by Pluto. But at the Congress General Assembly of the IAU, held on 24 August, it was decided to deprive of its status of a large planet.

The Distance from mercury to the Sun is 57 900 000 km. unlike other planets, it is closest to the sun. Then followed by Venus, Earth and Mars, after the asteroid belt are the heavenly giants: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. So, mercury – planet of the Solar system, which is located first from the Sun.

Color celestial object

Pictures taken from space satellites and ground-based telescopes allowed us to determine exactly what color is mercury. The whole surface is covered with gray rocks, which were formed by solidification of molten lava. The cooling magma and the formation of stony rocks occurred billions of years ago. Now mercury is a planet composed entirely of naked rocks. According to scientists, for several million years, there are no signs of activity erosion and tectonic processes. The changing landscape of the planet is only due to the fall of meteorites, leaving behind furrows on the surface of mercury.

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Geologists who have studied the images say that at the moment closest to the Sun the planet was not a single active volcano. What color is mercury could be, if he had stained with streams of hot magma, – we can only guess. But today he appears before us as a faceless grey planet.

Landscape Research

The surface of mercury was monitored by the spacecraft “Messenger”. There were several thousand high-quality images that are donated for research academic staff. What color is mercury, it is clearly visible in these photos: for the color image of the planet is dominated by dark gray shades.

These images taken by a satellite, have a high resolution. They researchers found that on the surface of mercury formed the bright troughs, which appeared relatively recently. This means that the landscape of the planet was changed for a short period of time.

Before that, on the surface of mercury was only observed scarps – long cracks, the formation of which is caused by cooling of the magma. Their length is hundreds of kilometers, and in appearance they resemble spiders. The images captured from the satellite, scientists have discovered scarps more miniature sizes, which was not observed before. A possible reason for their appearance-gravitational processes occurring under the bark.

What color is mercury, it is easy to determine by looking at photos of the planet. Its appearance is very similar to the moon. Both celestial bodies have similar coloring and landscape. If you compare the photos of mercury and the moon, one can clearly see that the coloring of the surface is dominated by gray tones, and a well-marked craters formed by falling meteorites. But still they have differences. For example, mercury has numerous scarps, whereas on the moon they are not. But on the first planet from the Sun you will find the lunar seas.

Interesting facts

Thanks to the development of the space industry, people have the opportunity to learn more about our universe, including information about the planets of the Solar system. Let's consider interesting facts about the planet mercury:

1. Day on the planet lasts about 59 earth days. That's how much time you need mercury to make one rotation around its axis.
2. Around the Sun, the planet takes almost 88 earth days. As much lasts a year.
3. Temperature fluctuations are very significant. At night the surface cools to –183 degrees Celsius, and the day the Sun heats the mercury to +430 degrees. The fact is that the planet cannot retain heat.
4. Depending on how far mercury is from the Sun, changing the composition of its ecosphere (a kind of atmosphere). As the researchers found, it contains sodium, calcium and magnesium. The concentration of these substances varies with the approach and removal from the sun.
5. Although mercury is quite difficult to find in the sky, our ancestors knew about its existence thousands of years ago.
6. In the Solar system there are only two planets that have no natural satellites or rings. These include Venus and mercury.
7. On this planet's largest reserves of sulphur. Also on mercury was detected water ice and organics.