Planet of Mercury - Essay Example

Notably, we can establish that unlike other planets, Mercury does not have an atmosphere, seasons, moons, satellites, or rings (“NASA” 1). As such, it is a very unique planet which is difficult but worth studying. There are only 58 million Kilometers separating the sun from Mercury (“NASA” 1) thus making the study of Mercury difficult for scholars. Nevertheless, a radar imaging from the Earth in the 1960s helped scientists to study Mercury. As such, scientists confirm that Mercury has a radius of 2,439.

7 km, a volume of 60,827,208,742 km3, and a total mass of about 330,104,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg (“NASA” 1). Furthermore, with a density of 5.4 grams per cubic centimeter, Mercury is very dense compared to other planets in the solar system (“Space Facts” 1). Although Mercury revolves around the sun at the fastest speed, it seemingly rotates around its axis at a very slow speed where it takes about 1 Mercury day or 59 Earth days to make a complete spin (“NASA” 1). Indeed, mercury takes about 88 Earth days or 1 Mercury year to revolve around the sun (“NASA” 1).. More so, the thin exosphere ensures the prevention of wind erosion on the surface of Mercury and that friction does not cause the meteorites to burn (“National Geographic Society” 1).

The composition of the thin exosphere entails different levels of potassium, oxygen, neon, argon, sodium, carbon dioxide, hydrogen (H2), nitrogen, helium (He), and krypton (“NASA” 1). The core of Mercury has the highest iron content higher iron content the Solar System (“National Geographic Society” 1) where its metallic core measures about 2200 to 2,400 miles in width, 42% of its volume (“Space Facts” 1), and about 75 percent of the its diameter. With a magnetic field in the solar wind, Mercury is very active and its charged particles normally stream from the sun and touch the planet’s magnetic field thereby creating a powerful magnetic tornado (“Science Daily” 1).

The magnetic tornado transmits the hot plasma of the solar wind to the surface of Mercury. Scientists established that the iron core of Mercury cools and contacts to wrinkle the surface of the planet. They further named the wrinkles as Lobate Scarps, which extend to hundreds of miles in length (“Space Facts” 1). Ideally, there have been various theories explaining how Mercury formed which relate to the physical removal of silicates or the differences in the composition material. One of the theories attributes the formation of Mercury to an impact that shrunk the size and mass of the planet.

The shrinking occurred as the planet cooled (“National Geographic Society” 1) and led to the crumpling and formation of cliffs on the surface of Mercury. Indeed, scientists believe that the planetesimal reduced