Mercury

Fig illustrates the Planet Mercury. It is the only too close to the Sun. The diameter of the planet Mercury is smaller than the Moon. The diameter of planet Mercury is about 4,880 km. The mass of the planet Mercury is about 3.30e23 kg. Planet Mercury is considered as the God of Commerce during the period of Roman mythology. The name of the God of Commerce is “ Hermes”. It means the messenger of the Gods. By the name itself it defines its characteristic that it moves so fast in the sky. Mariner 10 and Messenger are the two spacecraft visited Mercury to know the structural information. In 1974 and 1975 Mariner 10 flew 3 times, but it covered only 45% of the surface the Mercury. But revolves close to the sun, hence some of the information has been lost. To overcome these ‘Messenger’ space craft was launched by NASA in 2004. It provides high quality images of planet Mercury. Like Earth, Mercury has strong magnetic field. It has 1 % of magnetic field compared to Earth. There is no satellite for Mercury. We can view the planet with binoculars, but due to the closest range of Sun it is difficult to see.