1. 1. ______ is a battered world
planet.

2. Mercury- is the first planet in the solar system, only about 60 million km away from
the sun.
- it takes Mercury about 88days to go round the sun ones and one Mercury day is
about 58 Earth days long.
The Surface of mercury is very much like that of the moon.
Mercury is a heavy planet. Gravity is about one third of the earth’s. the core of
Mercury is probably still liquid.
Mercury Moon

3. GASES FOUND IN MERCURY’S ATMOSPHERE:
Mercury’s thin atmosphere contains hydrogen, helium and
oxygen. It also has smaller amount of sodium, potassium,
calcium and magnesium.
2. What are the three abundant gases
found in Mercury’s atmosphere?

4. How can there be water on a planet that nearly
boils in the solar wind?
NASA scientist Thomas Zurburchen notes
three possibilities:
first, there may be reservoirs of water ice in
small areas of Mercury’s poles (this water could
be as old as the solar system). Next, comets
may have deposited. Third , chemical sputtering
could create water from the solar wind and
Mercurian rock .

5. Because of it’s close proximity to the Sun, the
innermost planet Mercury cannot be studied from
Earth against the night dark sky; many
astronomers and most people have never seen the
elusive planet.
During the daytime, Mercury’s ground temperature
reaches a blistering 740 degrees kelvin ; at night
time it plunges to a freezing 100 degrees kelvin.
 Mercury has a thin atmosphere to speak of; just an
exceedingly tenuous wisp of atoms varies in
location and time and must be continually does the
3.How many degrees kelvin
dislodged from it’s Mercury’s temperature blistered?
atmosphere.

6.  Mercury’s rotation axis is aligned perpendicular to it’s
orbital plane, So there are no seasons on the planet, and
radar bright spots suggest that water ice may reside in
permanently shaded regions near it’s poles.
 Although one of Earth’s nearest neighbors, only one
spacecraft, Mariner 10, has ventured near Mercury,
viewing only about half of the planet’s surface; the
details of the other side of Mercury have never been
seen.
 At first glance, Mercury’s airless, cratered surface
resembles the Moon, but Mercury has unique surface
features, including ancient inter-crater plains, young
smooth plains.
 Relative to it’s size, Mercury has the biggest iron core of

7. MARINER 10 MOSAICS OF MERCURY (INBOUND = LEFT; OUTBOUND =
RIGHT

8. *
*
*
*
*
*

9. Exosphere
mercury has an extremely tenuous atmosphere
with a surface pressure a trillion times less than
Earth’s.
this type of tenuous atmosphere is called an
exosphere because atoms in it rarely collide. Mariner
ten identified the presence of hydrogen, helium and
oxygen in the atmosphere and set upper limits on the
abundance of argon. These elements are probably
derive from the solar wind. Later Earth-based
telescopic observation detected sodium and
potassium in quantities greater than the elements
previously known.
sodium and potassium
could be released from surface rocks by their
interaction with solar radiation or by impact
vaporization of micrometeoroid material.
4.This type of tenuous atmosphere is
day – to
both sodium and potassium show called______________?
–day changes in their global distribution .

10. 5.What are the two abilities of a planet to
retain an atmosphere?

12. Calories
Rim Crest Basin
~1,300 km
in diameter

13. Effects of
the
formation
of the
Calories
Basin

14. Linear cliffs called scarps hundreds of km long were
probably caused by contraction and wrinkling during
cooling of the planet
6.Linear cliffs called ____ hundreds of km
long were probably caused by contraction
and wrinkling during cooling of planet.

15. Physical properties of
Mercury

16. Orbit
mercury has a very elliptical ( oval- shaped ) orbit. At perihelion (at
its closest point) it is about 46 million km (28.58 million miles) from
the sun, but at aphelion (at its farthest point) it is 70 million km.
mercury is about 77.3 million km ( 48 million miles) from earth at its
closes approached.
Rotation
the planet rotates once about every 59 earth days, rotation slower
than that of any other planet except Venus . As a result of planet’s
slow rotation on its axis and rapid movement around the sun, a day on
mercury lasts 176 earth days (interval between one sunrise and the
next).
7.How far is the mercury
from the sun?

17. Composition
mercury is the 2nd densest major body in the solar system after
planet earth and its density slightly less than the Earths. Mercury’s
smaller mass makes its force of gravity only about a third as strong as
that of the Earth.
Surface
the surface of mercury consists of cratered terrain and smith plains
and many deep craters similar to those on the moon.
7.A second densest major body in
The solar system?

18. Scans of mercury made by earth- based
radar indicate that craters at mercury's poles
contain water ice.
the floors of the craters are permanently
shielded from sunlight, so the temperature
never gets high enough to melt the ice.

19. Temperature
mercury is a planet of extreme variations. It is
hatter on Venus, with less fluctuations. The
temperature on the planet may reach 450 degrees
C (840 degrees F) during the day .
but at night , the temperature may as low as -170
degrees C (-275 degrees F)

20. Atmosphere
Mercury is dry. Extremely hot and almost airless.
Planet mercury is too small for its gravity to retain any
significant atmosphere over long periods of time.
the weak atmosphere contains hydrogen, helium,
oxygen, sodium, calcium, and potassium.
8-10. Mercury is?

21. End