1. The average temperature on Mercury ranges from 90k-700k
2. Mercury has no moons
*Mercury was vistited by Mariner 10 aircraft in 1974, and they supply many of the facts now known about Mercury
*Scientists may think there is volcanic activity on Mercury
3. In Roman mythology, Mercury is the god of commerce, travel, and thievery. Mercury is also known as Hermes, the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. The planet probably received this name because it travels so quickly around the sky.
4. Mercury is COVERED with craters
*Eighth largest planet
5. Mercury is closest to the sun- average distance: about 58 million km
6. Mercury's mass= 3.30200x 1023
7. Mercury's diameter is 4878 km
8. Orbits the sun once every 88 days (fastest of all planets) (period of revolution)
9. Mercury's period of rotation= 58.6462 days
*Mercury is the second densest major body after Earth in the solar system.
*If an object or person on Earth is 100 lbs., they would weigh about 38 lbs. on Mercury
10. Mercury's largest crater is called, Caloris Basin.
11.Another very bright crater on Mercury is called, Kuiper Crater.
15.Mercury has an iron core and a magnetic field.
16.Mercury also has a metal core that has caused numerous catastophic collisions that send most of Mercury's core into space.
12. Mercury has a super super thin atmosphere that is made up of atoms that are carried fastly off Mercury's surface by the solar wind.
13. Mercury has no rings.
14. Mercury's surface is partially plains
17. Mercury also has some curved cliffs
* Mercury is said to be the color grey, it also is grey in most pictures, but in other pictures, Mercury is an orange almost red color.
18. Mercury is very hard to see with a telescope. At certain times of the year, Mercury can be seen low in the western sky just after sunset. At other times, it can be seen low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.(http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/mercury_worldbook.html)
19. The Sun is 24 times the size of Mercury
20. There can't be any plant or animal life on Mercury because of the lack of oxygen and the intense heat.
21. The Babylonians were the first people to mention sights of Mercury in writing about 3000 years ago.
*Mercury has a core, mantle, and crust, just like Earth.
LINKS: http://www.aerospaceguide.net/planet/planetmercury.html
http://kids.nineplanets.org/mercury.htm
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_kids/AskKids/mercury_atmosphere.shtml
http://library.thinkquest.org/C002416/mercury/index.htm#TOP
http://www.solarspace.co.uk/Mercury/mercury.php
http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/mercury/who-discovered-mercury/
http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/mercury/mercury-and-the-sun/
http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q365.html
http://thebigfoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/mercury-transit.jpg
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/04/mercury_sunrise_600.jpg