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Tag Archives: mercury
Geology of the Moon and Mercury – Blog 4
After writing my last blog post about atmospheres and the greenhouse effect, when learning that the atmospheres of the Moon and Mercury cause them to be considered practically airless and have no weather, I became heavily intrigued. What makes the Moon and Mercury so different from the other planets in our solar system? Thus, I […] Continue reading
Posted in Terrestrials
Tagged astro2110, blog4, craters, geology, mercury, Moon, Solar System, volcano
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Mercury and its core | blog IV
Measuring just over one-third of Earth’s diameter, Mercury is the smallest terrestrial planet in the solar system. However, relative to other worlds, Mercury’s core constitutes a very large part of its volume. Despite the vast difference in their scale, “Mercury’s inner core is indeed solid [and] very nearly the same size as Earth’s inner core,” […] Continue reading
Mercury’s Shrinkage
It’s been long thought that of the Fab (Terrestrial) Five, only Earth remains geologically active. However, recent evidence shows that little Mercury, long thought to be tectonically dead, is actually shrinking! The evidence comes in the form of small troughs (upper arrows in the picture below) and scarps (lower arrows) astronomers were able to photographContinue reading “Mercury’s Shrinkage” Continue reading
Surface Features of Mercury
Mercury is a terrestrial planet, though it is quite different in appearance than Earth. It’s grey rocky surface more resembles that of the moon, however unlike the moon Mercury has a liquid iron core and is much denser. Moreover, Mercury’s surface features paint an interesting story of past geological occurrences. Mercury formed around 4.6 billionContinue reading “Surface Features of Mercury” Continue reading
Posted in Class, Terrestrials
Tagged astro2110, blog3, geology, mercury, Solar System
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Exploration and Geology of Mercury
Because it is so technically difficult to reach Mercury with spacecraft’s from Earth, the geology of Mercury is understood the least of all the terrestrial worlds. The main reason it is so hard to reach is due to how close Mercury is to the Sun. When a spacecraft moves down Sun’s gravitational potential well to … Continue reading Exploration and Geology of Mercury → Continue reading
Retrograde Motion: Illusions and Jinxes
Understanding the heavens has proven confusing for countless generations of humans in part because of the illusions caused by our perspective from earth. For millennia, the majority opinion was a geocentric universe, where the sun, moon, planets, and stars revolved around the earth, since they all seemed to do so from the earth’s perspective. All […] Continue reading
Blog Post #7: Comets Can Be Artists Too
bbc.com A new study shows that Mercury may have been “painted” black by passing comets. In class, we have learned to compare …
Posted in Small SS Objects
Tagged astro201, blog7, Comets, mercury, Solar System
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Messenger’s Last Legs
The MESSENGER mission, short for Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging sent up the probe in August 2004. In March 2011 it became the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. The probe has done a lot in its years around the Solar System’s first planet including: constructing the best-ever maps of Mercury and discovering carbon-containing […]
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Geological Activity of Mercury
Image Source For many years, scientists have regarded Mercury as a planet that has little to offer, as it is more or less a ‘dead’ planet. Mercury has acquired such dull attributes given its treacherous location in the Solar System. Its proximity to the Sun allows the sun-facing side of mercury to reach temperatures of […]
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Posted in Terrestrials
Tagged astro201, blog5, mercury
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