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Young Observers |  |
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Young Observers | |
| Mercury is the small planet closest to the Sun. This is what it looks like in a backyard telescope on a good night. The side facing the Sun gets very hot (427ºC), while on the night side, facing away from the sun, it gets very cold (-173ºC). Mercury spins on it’s axis very slowly. It takes our Earth 24 hours to spin on it’s axis, which we call one day, but it takes Mercury 58 earth days (1 Mercury day) to spin on it’s axis. Mercury’s day is almost as long as it’s year! While it takes Earth 365 1/4 days (1 Earth year) to go around the sun, it only takes 88 Earth days for Mercury to go completely around the Sun. |  |
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Mercury has many craters and looks a lot like our Moon. This is a picture of the Caloris Basis area. If you click on the picture, you will see a large photo of Mercury and its many craters. |
| This planet is not observed very often because it is small and close to the Sun, but when it is above the horizon after sunset, it is one of the brightest objects in the sky. Try to spot Mercury low in the west from May 19th to the end of the month. Wait for the Sun to go down below the horizon. |  |
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This page last modified: May 1, 2000
For comments or suggestions on this planet page, please write to Debra Tigner or Chris Teron |
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