AST-177beginner

Mercury: Structures & Vocabulary

Mercury is the smallest major planet and the closest to the Sun, with an unusually large metallic core, a heavily cratered surface, almost no substantial atmosphere, and a strongly eccentric orbit. Mercury tests models of extreme inner-disk planet formation, spin-orbit dynamics, magnetic dynamos in small worlds, volatile survival close to the Sun, and thermal evolution of rocky planets.

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Mercury: Structures & Vocabulary

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AST-176Mercury: Foundations→

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AST-178Mercury: Physical Mechanisms→

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Mercury is the smallest major planet and the closest to the Sun, with an unusually large metallic core, a heavily cratered surface, almost no substantial atmosphere, and a strongly eccentric orbit.

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Mercury's 3:2 spin-orbit resonance means it rotates three times for every two trips around the Sun.

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Spacecraft such as Mariner 10 and MESSENGER mapped the surface, gravity, magnetic field, composition, and polar deposits.