Solar System: All About Mercury

Inner Planets

• Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, named after the Roman god of commerce, with a radius of 2440 km and an orbital distance of 55 million km from the sun.
• One year on Mercury is 88 days, with an eccentric orbit and extreme temperature differences, ranging from hot days to freezing nights (-170°C).
• Mercury is a rocky planet with a liquid outer and solid inner metallic core.
• The polar regions of Mercury may contain ice.

Venus

• Venus is known as Earth's twin, named after the goddess of love, prosperity, and desire.
• A day on Venus lasts longer than its year, with a rotation period of 243 Earth days and an orbital period of 225 days.
• Venus has a dense atmosphere, which creates a drag on the surface, and is composed of 97% CO2 and traces of SO2, resulting in a greenhouse effect and a surface temperature of 464°C.
• Venus has the lowest eccentricity among all planets and lacks a magnetic field due to a lack of connection with its core.

Mars

• Mars is a cold, dry, and dusty planet with valleys, craters, and mountains, including Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in our Solar System.
• Mars is a terrestrial planet with a metallic iron and nickel core, a silicate material mantle, and a crust composed of weathered rocks containing silica, magnesium, calcium, aluminum, potassium, and iron, making it red.
• Mars is an igneous planet with secondary materials on its surface, including clay minerals, gypsum, and goethite.

Asteroid Belt

• The asteroid belt is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, composed of irregularly shaped objects, including carbonaceous, silicate, and metallic types.
• Ceres is the largest asteroid and a dwarf planet, 939 km in diameter, with hydrated minerals and a cryovolcano that erupts gases/liquids such as ammonia.
• Vesta is the second-largest asteroid, the most visible from Earth, with Pallas and Hygiea being the third and fourth largest, all being C-type asteroids.

Outer Jovian Planets

• Jupiter is the largest planet, more than 11 times the diameter of the Earth, composed of mostly hydrogen and helium with colorful bands of clouds.
• Jupiter orbits the sun every 12 years and completes a rotation in less than 10 hours, with a faint ring and a warmest layer composed of water ice.
• Jupiter has a convective flow that creates bands, with lighter clouds forming where the warm material is ascending and cooling, and darker clouds forming where the material is sinking and warming.

Saturn

• Saturn is the second-largest planet, 9 times larger than the Earth, taking about 29.5 Earth years to orbit the sun.
• Saturn is composed of hydrogen and helium, lacking a definite surface, but with a solid (metallic/hardened hydrogen) core.
• Saturn is the only planet less dense than water, meaning it can float, and has rings that extend from 6000 km to 12000 km from its equator, composed of ice and ranging in size from dust to 10m.