Author: iamdefinitory

GREENHOUSE EFFECT – The trapping of heat by a planet’s atmosphere, significantly stronger on Venus than on Earth.

VENUSIAN ATMOSPHERE – A thick atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide with clouds of sulfuric acid, creating an extreme greenhouse effect.

POLAR ICE – Despite Mercury’s extreme temperatures, there are deposits of water ice near its poles, protected from the Sun’s heat by deep craters.

SURFACE COMPOSITION – Mercury’s surface is rich in metal and rock, with large amounts of iron and sulfur.

TEMPERATURE VARIATIONS – Due to its lack of atmosphere and proximity to the Sun, Mercury experiences some of the most extreme temperature differences in the solar system.

EXOSPHERE – The thin, rarefied atmosphere of Mercury, composed of atoms and molecules that are constantly escaping into space.

TIDAL LOCKING – Mercury is in a state of orbital resonance where it rotates three times on its axis for every two revolutions around the Sun.

MESSENGER MISSION – NASA’s spacecraft that orbited Mercury between 2011 and 2015, gathering detailed information about the planet’s surface, magnetic field, and atmosphere.

SURFACE GRAVITY – Mercury’s surface gravity is 38% of Earth’s, due to its smaller size and mass.