Mercury is the smallest planet of the Sol system and the closest to the Sun, with an average distance of 58 mio km. It is also the fastest planet of the system. Due to its orbital eccentricity, it experiences the greatest temperature variations of any planet in the system.
Infos[]
Mercury is tidally locked with the Sun in a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance, so it rotates on its axis three times for every two cycles around the Sun, making its way of rotation unique in the system. An observer on Mercury would only see one day every two Mercurian years.[1]
Moons[]
Mercury is one of the only two planets of the system without moon, together with Venus.
History[]
In The Expanse, Mercury is not colonized and it is unknown if there are mining activities going on on the planet. A "new scientific station in a stationary orbit around Mercury" is mentioned[2] by the documentary team of Monica Stuart Books • TV in Abaddon's Gate, so it can be assumed there are or have been others before.
Media[]
Notes[]
- Mercury is named after the Roman deity Mercury[3], the messenger of the gods.
- Mercury is one of the three terrestrial bodies in the Sol system to have a Magnetic field after Earth and Ganymede. This is the result of a moving liquid metal core.
- It is the second most densest planet after Earth in the Sol system.
- Mercury is shrinking. The planet is made up of a single continental plate over a cooling iron-liquid core. As the core cools, it solidifies, reducing the planet's volume and causing it to shrink.
See also[]
References
- ↑
Mercury on Wikipedia
- ↑ The Expanse Novel Abaddon's Gate - Chapter 10: Holden
- ↑ Mercury (mythology)
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