Mercury 101 | Planet Mercury | The Dr Binocs Show | Peekaboo Kidz

Oh, good to see you making clay models for your school project. Is that Jupiter in your hands, little kitty? No. Oh, then you got the size and color wrong. If you want good grades, I suggest you learn some interesting facts about it. Kitty wants apples. Great! So let me explain to you all some interesting facts about the first planet in our solar system, called Mercury. Zoom in! Mercury is the first planet in our solar system with a diameter of 3031.9 miles, making it slightly bigger than our moon and eventually the smallest planet in size. But despite being small, it is the fastest planet in our solar system as it takes only 88 days to complete one revolution around the sun. However, days can be really long here as it takes about 59 Earth days to complete one rotation around its axis. And just like Earth, it is a terrestrial planet too, meaning they have a compact rocky surface like the Earth's terra firma and three layers, the core, the mantle and the crust. But with no tectonic plates. Also, its iron core is the densest part that makes up around 85% of its radius, while the Earth's core makes up only 55% of its total size. Also, the core has a significant contribution towards the weight of Mercury, making it the most iron-rich planet in the entire solar system. But with time, this iron-loaded core is cooling down, resulting in the wrinkling and shrinking of this planet like a raisin. Yes, some scientists estimate that the planet is now about 8.6 miles smaller in diameter than it was nearly 4 billion years ago. Another factor that may surprise you about Mercury is that it isn't the hottest planet in our solar system despite being closest to the sun. Yes, because it has almost no atmosphere but just a thin layer of exosphere that cannot hold in heat and keep the surface warm. The temperature can drop to minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit during nights. But due to its close proximity to the sun, it can rise up to a whopping 800 degrees Fahrenheit during the daytime. Not only that, but this lack of an atmospheric layer to protect it from the outer attacks has also led to multiple meteor showers on this planet, leading to the formation of many large craters, one of which is called the Caloris Basin, which has a diameter of around 960 miles. Researchers believe it could have been caused by an object nearly 62 miles wide, which is way bigger than an asteroid. Check X-Club impactor, which was only 6.2 miles wide, but still managed to wipe out dinosaurs on Earth. Yes, and if you want to know more about it, please check out our video, What If an Asteroid Hit the Earth Afterwards? These extreme factors about this tiny planet, makes us curious to learn more about its existence. But due to its orbit so close to the sun, it is challenging to observe it from the Earth. Because of which, so far we only managed to send two spacecrafts to its surface. Yes, NASA's Marina 10 in 1973 and Messenger in 2004 gave us little information we have about this little planet until now. But the space community is making more and more efforts to know more and more about Mercury's extreme behavior. And hopefully in the near future, someone from our lovely audience will manage to unwrap the layers beneath the rocky surface of a cute little speedy planet called Mercury. TRIVIA TIME! Did you know Mercury was named after the Roman God Mercurius? Yes, Mercurius was the messenger of Roman Gods, also known for his speed. Hope you learnt something new today. Until next time, it's me Dr. Binocs, Zooming out! Never mind!