closest planet to the Sun got its name back in the ancient times.Mercury was the Roman god, the patron of travelers and commerce.Also, the fleet-footed messenger of the gods.It is for speedy movement in the heavens the closest planet to the Sun - and it is the fastest body in our sky - got its name.
Basic statements
This planet closer to the Sun than the Earth is almost three times.Mercury proximity to its star it causes a highly elongated orbit and rapid rotation around it - in just 88 days.And it's faster rotation of the Earth twice.Interestingly, the rotation around its own axis makes the planet in about 59 Earth days.This is also due to the approach to the star and its gravitational force, because the diameter of the planet's more than three times smaller than the Earth, not to mention the weight.It turns out that the mercurial day is two-thirds of the year here.Mercury has long been the smallest terrestrial planet, and after the deprivation of Pluto from planet status - what happened a few years ago as a result of the revision of the scientists of this concept - and did become the smallest planet of the solar system.Interestingly, it is even less the moons of Jupiter and Saturn - respectively, the Titan and Ganymede.Though last and can not be called planets.For a long time about Mercury virtually nothing was known.His full-fledged study was only launched in the space race since the "cold war."In 1973, in the direction of the machine body it was launched Mariner 10, which received the first good pictures of the planet (passing "looking" close to Venus).
weather
planet Mercury has virtually no atmosphere, but there are a small number of familiar gases: hydrogen, sodium, oxygen, argon, potassium and others.Although the greater part of its surface closest to the sun planet Peclet is present (here temperature often reaches 400 degrees Celsius), there also exist a zone where never reach sunlight.Not so long ago in some deep craters of the moon it was discovered water ice present.Astrophysicists believe that Mercury, probably also contained the ice in craters at its poles.The pictures, which were obtained through the Mariner 10 showed that the closest planet to the Sun in its structure is very similar to the Moon: it is even more kraterizirovana.The entire surface is covered by long-fractured basalt type of dark matter.As a part of the body most of the iron is present - about 70%.Most likely, because it is the same and its core.However, it is likely planet closest to the sun for a long time to cool the inside and has no geological activity.
Further studies
today jointly by the European and Japanese experts, a program in which in the coming years to Mercury will be sent two spacecraft, one of which will go down to the planet, and will explore its surface and depth, and the other will studyits magnetic field.
