The Planet Mercury

The Inner Planets Part 1
Mercury (5th
grade)

The inner planets include
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and
Mars.

Mercury is the closest planet to
the sun.

https://youtu.be/z8aBZZnv6y8
Watch this 2:41 video on the planets’
orbits around the sun. Keep in mind that
the scale is not accurate. The real scale is
so large, it would be difficult to see each
planet.
Which planet orbits the sun the
fastest?

Question:
Which planet revolves around
the sun the fastest and why?

Answer:
Mercury’s orbit is the fastest
because it’s the closest to the
sun, so its orbital ring is much
smaller than the other planets’.

https://youtu.be/f6foCDF6zI0
Here is another video of the planets’ orbits.
Pay attention to how fast Mercury
rotates on its axis compared to Earth.
Also, pay attention to which direction
Venus rotates.

Question: Which rotates
faster...Earth or Mercury?
Question: How did Venus
rotate compared to the other
planets?

Answers:
Mercury rotates very slowly compared
to Earth.
Venus rotates in the opposite direction
of the other planets.
The sun rises in the West, if you’re on planet Venus!

Mercury
This picture of Mercury was taken by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft.
Mercury has
no moons.

How Did Mercury
Get Its Name?
The Romans believed that
gods and goddesses were
in charge of everything on
Earth. Mercury is named
after the messenger for
their gods.

...The Roman god Mercury had wings on his helmet
and shoes. He could travel very quickly from place
to place to deliver messages. The planet Mercury
moves quickly around the sun. That is how it got its
name.

Mercury’s orbit takes the small planet as close as 29
million miles and as far as 43 million miles from the
sun. This is because its orbit is not a perfect circle.
Mercury’s transit
The dots are Mercury, showing how it orbits in front of the sun from our viewpoint.

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun.
It is about 35.98 million miles from the sun.

If one could stand on the scorching surface of
Mercury when it is at its closest point to the
sun, the sun would appear more than three
times as large as it does when viewed from
Earth.
Computer generated picture of
Mercury Earth

How Big Is Mercury?
Mercury is a little bigger than Earth's moon. It is
made of heavier materials, like iron. If you could
weigh Mercury and the moon, Mercury would weigh a
lot more. Mercury is heavy, but it is small. It would
take more than 18 Mercurys to be as big as Earth.
Moon Mercury

Mercury is largely made of iron (scientists believe). This
planet is like a large metal ball of iron with a very thin
silicate crust (think powdery sand).
iron
Silicates are minerals that are made of
silicon and oxygen.

Mercury's core makes up about 75% of the planet. Its thin
mantle is only about 300 to 400 miles thick. Next to Earth,
Mercury is the second most dense planet in our Solar
System.

How much would you weigh on Mercury? You would not
weigh as much as you do on Earth because Mercury is
smaller, and so has less gravity. If you weigh 70 pounds on
Earth, you would weigh only about 27 pounds on Mercury.
You could leap like the
astronauts did on the moon!

It takes Mercury 88 Earth days
to make a complete orbit around
the sun.
Mercury’s year would end
on Earth’s March 29th
!

A day on Mercury
lasts a lot longer
than a day on Earth.
One day on Mercury
lasts 59 Earth days.
The tilt of its axis is
only 0.1 degrees.

Mercury is heavily cratered by
meteor impacts.

Photo taken from MESSENGER probe

Mercury does not have much of an
atmosphere. Therefore, it experiences
extreme temperature changes.

The side of Mercury experiencing night-time
can be as cold as -290 0
F.
super cold
super hot

The side that is in daylight can get to 8010
F.
That’s hot enough to melt lead.

Even so, Mercury is NOT the
hottest planet in the solar
system! (Can you guess what it is?)

Did you guess correctly? Venus
is the hottest. We’ll learn more
about Venus next time.

How do we know so much
about Mercury?

In 1973, NASA launched the
Mariner 10.

Mariner 10 was an unmanned
probe that was designed to fly
by Venus and Mercury.

Mariner 10 was the first probe to ever
visit Mercury. It reached Mercury in 1974
and did a fly-by, taking photographs.

31 years later, NASA launched the
MESSENGER spacecraft. It was 2004.

https://youtu.be/RSYsHy5A2-w
Click the above link to watch a 2:05 min. video of the launch of the
MESSENGER spacecraft.

The MESSENGER
reached Mercury in
2008. It flew by
Earth once, Venus
twice, and Mercury
3 times. It was the
1st
probe to actually
orbit Mercury.

The MESSENGER spacecraft had many instruments to take
measurements and photographs.

Its mission lasted 10 years.
MESSENGER finally ran out of fuel in
2015 and crashed into Mercury, leaving
a 50 foot crater on its surface.

Mercury is often called a morning star. This is because it
shines brightly in the early morning just before the sun
rises. It has also been called an evening star for the same
reason. Mercury is often visible for a brief period of time
just after the Sun sets.
Photograph of the moon, Mercury, and Venus.
Mercury

Okay, it’s time to quiz yourself:
How many moons does Mercury
have?

Which is bigger...Mercury or
Earth’s moon?

Answer:
Mercury is a little bigger.

Question:
What was the first probe to fly
by Mercury and took the first
photos we have of this planet?

Answer:
Mariner 10. It reached Mercury
in 1974.

Question:
What was the 2nd
probe sent to
Mercury and the only one to
actually orbit Mercury?

Answer:
The MESSENGER spacecraft,
which reached Mercury in 2008.

Bonus Question:
Why do you think NASA named
this probe the “MESSENGER”?

Answer:
It was named after the Roman
god Mercury, who was the
messenger to the other gods.

Question:
How long does a Mercury year
last?

Question:
How long is a Mercury day?

Question:
What is Mercury made of?

Answer:
Mostly iron (in its core), with a
thin rocky layer as the crust.

Question:
Which planet has a greater
tilt...Earth or Mercury?

The End
This PowerPoint was created by Mrs. Burch

The Planet Mercury

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