the terrestrial planets. exploration of mercury mercury half-mapped
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The Terrestrial Planets
Exploration of Mercury
Mercury Half-Mapped
Mercury’s Orbit• Fairly eccentric with e=0.21
– Perihelion distance = 0.31 AU– Aphelion distance = 0.47 AU
• Resonance
– So Mercury rotates 3 times for every 2 orbits around the Sun
– This is a tidal effect from the Sun
The Mercurian Day
Advance of Mercury’s Orbit
General Properties of Mercury
Temperature– 100 K at night to 700 K by day
Magnetic Field– Surprisingly strong at ~0.5% of Earth’s– Magnetic field and high average density
suggest a large iron coreAtmosphere
– NoneInterior
– Large iron core - 1/3 by volume, extending to about 70% of radius
Degas
Impact craterabout 45 km
wide
Imaged by theMariner 10
flybys
Surface Effects
Scarps are seen on Mercury.
Useful for relative dating and history of the
surface.
Caloris Basin
Interior of Mercury
Origin Model for Mercury
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