Hobbies And Interests
Orbit &Rotation
Mercury rotates around the Sun faster than any other planet in our solar system--at about 30 miles a second--and it orbits the Sun at an average distance of about 36 million miles. Mercury goes around the Sun once every 88 Earth days and rotates on its axis about once every 59 Earth days. Add up the slow axis rotation and rapid orbit around the Sun and a day on Mercury equals 176 Earth days.
Surface
Mercury's poles contain ice but since the floor of the craters at the poles are permanently shielded from the Sun, the temperature never gets high enough to melt it. Mercury's surface is a lot like the surface of the Moon, with steep cliffs, a cratered terrain and smooth plains. It even reflects the same amount of sunlight that the Moon does--approximately six percent.
Atmosphere
Mercury has very little atmosphere and couldn't support life as we know it. Small amounts of helium, hydrogen, sodium and oxygen surround Mercury but this gaseous atmosphere is so thin that the atmospheric pressure is extremely light compared to Earth. On Mercury, the force exerted by this pressure is about 0.00000000003 pound per square inch, while the atmospheric pressure on Earth is about 14.7 pounds per square inch.
A Hot Atmosphere
Essentially, the atmosphere on Mercury is dry, extremely hot and pretty much airless.
The temperature on Mercury can reach 840 degrees F during the day and -275 degrees F at night.
Interior Design
Scientists believe Mercury's core makes up about three-fourths of its radius and is hard and rocky, much like Earth's. When a magnetic field was discovered around Mercury, it led some scientists to believe that the planet's outer core, like Earth's, consists of liquid iron.