Essay On The Autobiography Of The Smallest Planet Of Solar System – Mercury

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Essay On The Autobiography Of The Smallest Planet Of Solar System – Mercury

In the early 17th century an Italian physicist, mathematician, engineer, astronomer, philosophe and scientist Galileo Galilei made my first telescopic observation. I am one of the four land-dwelling planets of the solar system. I have a rocky body. I am a planet in the Solar System with an equatorial radius of about 2,440 kilometres. Yes, I am Mercury and I know several facts about myself. Compared to your planet, my density is the second highest in the Solar System.

I have no satellite. This means that no natural body revolves around me. According to the data available from missions over me, it is believed that my crust is about 300 kilometres thick. Geologists estimate that my core occupies about 42% of its volume. Recent research strongly suggests that I have a molten core with high iron content.

My core is surrounded by mantle containing silicates. The depth of the mantle is about 700 kilometres. My surface has numerous narrow folds, spreading up to several hundred kilometres in length. These narrow folds were formed as my core and mantle cooled and contracted at a time when the crust had already solidified.

My surface temperature is 442.5 K. On my darker side, I have a temperature of about 110 K. Although the daylight temperature at my surface is very high, studies suggest that ice exists on me. My surface at the poles is never exposed to the direct sunlight. Therefore, the temperature near poles remains below 102 K. However, the two most likely sources of ice on me are water and the impact of different comets. I do not contain gases like hydrogen, helium, oxygen, sodium, calcium and potassium. Although I am very small, I am very hot because I am too close to the Sun.

Tidal bulges raised by the Sun have bent my surface. The Sun’s tides on me are about 17 times stronger than that of the Moon on your planet. I am often visible from Earth with binoculars or even by unaided eyes. However, I am frequently visible from Earth’s Southern Hemisphere than Northern. As I am always very near to the Sun, it is difficult to see me in the twilight sky. Since I am closer to the Sun, the brightness of my disk differs when viewed with a telescope. However, Galileo sir’s telescope was too small to see my phases but he did see my elder brother Venus’ phases.

Essay On The Autobiography Of The Smallest Planet Of Solar System - Mercury

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