Interesting Facts About Mercury
Mercury is pretty hard to “catch” on the telescope, and it’s never been fully mapped out, so, you could call it the least known planet in our Solar System. At the same time, because of its mysterious state, numerous scientists around the world have been meticulously studying it from afar, trying to understand what it’s made of, how big it is, et cetera, et cetera. Thankfully, despite the fact that this planet is pretty much one big mystery, I’m happy to say that we still do know some interesting facts about Mercury and I wanna share them with you today. Let’s see what this dark, scary and solitary planet is all about, shall we?
– First of all, get this: The Sun rays on Mercury are 7 times stronger than on planet Earth, which means we would all burn up and all the plants/bushes/crops would simply die from the heat, not to mention there wouldn’t be any water left, to begin with.
– However, this planet is smaller than ours and just a bit bigger than the Moon. Interesting fact about Mercury: If you ever happen to be standing on the surface of Mercury, make sure to look up at the sky – the Sun will look twice as big, simply because it’s closer.
– Did you know that Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun? Well, it is, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the warmest one. So, which one is? Venus, of course!
Interesting Facts About Mercury – It’s The Smallest Planet In Our System And Has Ice Water
– Now, even though this planet is REALLY close to the Sun, several observations have shown that the North Pole of Mercury could very well be “packing” huge amounts of water ice! They say it’s all “hiding” in the shadows of some craters.
– Interesting facts about Mercury: The Ancient Romans named this planet after the god of industry, travel and commerce. The Greek “equivalent” is none other than Hermes – the “delivery guy” for the gods. Some people claim that the planet got its name due to the fact that it moves pretty quickly.
– Are you a chubby person that just can’t seem to drop that weight? Don’t worry, visit Mercury! The thing is, if you weigh, say, 100 kilograms on our planet, you total weight would be around 38 kilograms on Mercury! Crazy, right?!
– Venus and Mercury are the only 2 planets in our Solar System that no moon (or moons) orbiting around them.
– Another interesting fact about Mercury: The Americans and the Russians are pretty advanced in space tech these days (and the Chinese are catching up), but we still haven’t seen the second half of Mercury! Who knows, maybe the Aliens have a base there?
– Still, Mariner 10 and the Messenger have successfully visited Mercury and even took some pics (yes, you could call them the first selfies on Mercury).
– Do you know why they never use the Hubble telescope to observe Mercury and never will? Because the planet is located too close to the Sun and light could simply wipe out the electronics and the optics.
– Pluto used to be the smallest planet in our Solar System until somebody decided that it shouldn’t be classified as a planet. So, now Mercury is called the smallest one!