Mercury

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Mercury
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Due to the information sent by Mariner 10,
Mercury has an extremely weak atmosphere. Really,
it has close to none!
TEMPERATURE
Nobody knows who found it, but it was a
Babylonian man or woman.
Mercury has the biggest temperature change in the
solar system. During the day, Mercury goes to at
least 750ºF. At night, it comes down to -350º F!

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• Nobody has ever explored Mercury because it is
  the closest planet to the sun.
• It is way too hot to explore.
• You would burn up.

• Mercury is so close to the sun that its
  gravitational pull would interfere with any
  moons.
• That is why Mercury has no moons.

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Mercury has been battered with craters and looks
similar to our moon. Caloris Basin is a basin
that stretches 800 miles across. It was made by a
gigantic meteor.
Mercurys rotation time is surprisingly slow. It
takes about 59 Earth days! A Mercury year is 88
Earth days, thus taking it that long to go around
the sun.
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• Mercury is about 36 million miles from the sun.
• Even though 36 million miles is very far, Mercury
  is still the closest planet to the the sun.

• The diameter of Mercury may sound big, but
  Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar
  System.
• Mercurys diameter is 3,030 miles.

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CREDITS
A Virtual Journey Into the Universe Welcome to
the Nine Planets Windows to the
Universe Starchild NASA Kids NASA Space Place