What Is the Planet Mercury?

than 30 years. NASA's MESSENGER

Mercury is a planet in our solar system. It

is the smallest of the eight planets. It is
also the closest to the sun. Mercury goes
around the sun the fastest of all the
planets.

Mercury

has

no

moons.

How Did Mercury Get Its Name?

The Romans believed that gods and

spacecraft flew by Mercury in 2008 and

2009. In March 2011, it began to orbit
Mercury. MESSENGER will study parts of
Mercury that have not been seen before. It
will let scientists learn many new things

messenger for their gods. The Roman

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

name.
Big

Is

Mercury?

Mercury is a little bigger than Earth's

moon. It is made of heavier materials, like
iron. But 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

Where

as

Earth.

Is

Mercury?

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun.

Mercury goes around the sun once every
88 Earth days. A day on Mercury lasts a lot
longer than a day on Earth. One day on
Mercury lasts 59 Earth days.
What

Is

Mercury

Like?

The surface of Mercury looks like Earth's

moon. It is covered with holes. The holes
are called impact craters. The craters were
made by rocks falling from space. The
rocks are going very fast when they hit
Mercury. A hole is made where the rock
hits. Earth has a blanket of air around it.
Mercury does not. The blanket is what
helps keep Earth from getting too hot or
cold. Because it is so close to the sun,
Mercury can be very hot. At night, Mercury
gets very cold. We could not live on
Mercury!

How Has NASA Studied Mercury?

Mercury is hard to study because it is so
close to the sun. People have never gone
to Mercury. Spacecraft without people
have gone. Mariner 10 was the first to visit
Mercury. It flew by in 1974 and 1975. Not
even half of Mercury was seen then. After
that, nothing was sent to Mercury for more

What Is Earth?

about the planet.

Earth is our home planet. Scientists
WHAT IS PLANET VENUS

goddesses were in charge of everything

on Earth. Mercury is named after the

Venus. They found out that Venus'

atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and
sulfuric acid. This is not good air to
breathe!

Venus is the second planet from the Sun,

orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. It has
the longest rotation period of any planet
in the Solar System and rotates in the
opposite direction to most other
planets. It has no natural satellite.

believe Earth and its moon formed around

the same time as the rest of the solar
system. They think that was about 4.5
billion years ago. Earth is the fifth-largest
planet in the solar system. Its diameter is
about 8,000 miles. And Earth is the thirdclosest planet to the sun. Its average

Venus
Inside
and
On
Top
Venus is the second planet from the Sun,
and is Earth's closest neighbor in the solar
system. Venus is the brightest object in the
sky after the Sun and the Moon, and
sometimes looks like a bright star in the
morning or evening sky. The planet is a
little smaller than Earth, and is similar to
Earth inside. We can't see the surface of
Venus from Earth, because it is covered
with thick clouds. However, space
missions to Venus have shown us that its
surface is covered with craters, volcanoes,
mountains, and big lava plains. The
surface of Venus is not where you'd like to
be, with temperatures that can melt lead,
an atmosphere so thick it would crush you,
and clouds of sulfuric acid that smell like
rotten eggs to top it off!

distance from the sun is about 93 million

miles. Only Mercury and Venus are closer.
Earth has been called the "Goldilocks
planet." In the story of "Goldilocks and the
Three Bears," a little girl named Goldilocks
liked everything just right. Her porridge
couldn't be too hot or too cold. And her
bed couldn't be too hard or too soft. On
Earth, everything is just right for life to
exist. It's warm, but not too warm. And it
has water, but not too much water.
Earth is the only planet known to have
large amounts of liquid water. Liquid water
is essential for life. Earth is the only planet

Air
on
Venus
The atmosphere of Venus is very hot and
thick. You would not survive a visit to the
surface of the planet - you couldn't breathe
the air, you would be crushed by the
enormous weight of the atmosphere, and
you would burn up in surface temperatures
high
enough
to
melt
lead.

where

life

What

Does

The atmosphere of Venus is made up

mainly of carbon dioxide, and thick clouds
of sulfuric acid completely cover the
planet. The atmosphere traps the small
amount of energy from the sun that does
reach the surface along with the heat the
planet itself releases. This greenhouse
effect has made the surface and lower
atmosphere of Venus one of the hottest
places in the solar system! Why should
Venus and not the Earth have a hot and
thick atmosphere? Some scientists call it
the
Goldilocks
phenomenon.

areas of brown, yellow and green are land.

Discover
Venus
Venus is one of the brightest objects in the
sky. It is always found near the Sun. It
rises and sets each day, so it has the
nicknames Morning and Evening Star!
Scientists found that Venus rotates
backwards. This means that on Venus the
Sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
We've sent a lot of spacecraft to visit

How

is

known
Earth

to

exist.

Look

Like?

From space, Earth looks like a blue marble

with white swirls and areas of brown,
yellow, green and white. The blue is water,
which covers about 71 percent of Earth's
surface. The white swirls are clouds. The
And the areas of white are ice and snow.
The equator is an imaginary circle that
divides Earth into two halves. The northern
half is called the Northern Hemisphere.
The southern half is called the Southern
Hemisphere. The northernmost point on
Earth is called the North Pole. The
southernmost point on Earth is called the
South

Pole.
Does

Earth

Move?

Earth orbits the sun once every 365 days,

or one year. The shape of its orbit is not
quite a perfect circle. It's more like an oval,
which causes Earth's distance from the
sun to vary during the year. Earth is
nearest the sun, or at "perihelion," in

January when it's about 91 million miles

result is fall in the Northern Hemisphere

average, more than 142 million miles from

away. Earth is farthest from the sun, or at

and spring in the Southern Hemisphere.

the sun. Mars is about one-sixth the size of

"aphelion," in July when it's about 95

The sun also shines equally on both

million miles away.

hemispheres from March to May. The

Earth. Mars is known as the Red Planet. It

gets its red color from the iron oxide (like
rust) in its soil.

At the equator, Earth spins at just over

result is spring in the Northern Hemisphere

1,000 miles per hour. Earth makes a full

and fall in the Southern Hemisphere.

Mars is named for the ancient Roman god

spin around its axis once every 24 hours,

What Are Earth's Different Parts?

of war. The Greeks called the planet Ares.

or one day. The axis is an imaginary line

Earth consists of land, air, water and life.

The Romans and Greeks associated the

through the center of the planet from the

The land contains mountains, valleys and

planet with war because its color

North Pole to the South Pole. Rather than

flat areas. The air is made up of different

resembles the color of blood.

straight up and down, Earth's axis is tilted

gases, mainly nitrogen and oxygen. The

at

degrees.

water includes oceans, lakes, rivers,

Why Do We Have Day and Night?

streams, rain, snow and ice. Life consists

At all times, half of Earth is lighted by the

of people, animals and plants. There are

sun and half is in darkness. Areas facing

millions of species, or kinds of life, on

toward the sun experience daytime. Areas

Earth. Their sizes range from very tiny to

facing away from the sun experience

very large.

an

angle

of

23.5

nighttime. As the planet spins, most places

Below Earth's surface are layers of rock

on Earth cycle through day and night once

and metal. Temperatures increase with

every 24 hours. The North Pole and South

depth, all the way to about 12,000 degrees

Pole have continuous daylight or darkness

depending

on

the

time

of

Fahrenheit at Earth's inner core.

year.

Why Does Earth Have Seasons?

Earth's parts once were seen as largely

Earth has seasons because its axis is

separate from each other. But now they

tilted. Thus, the sun's rays hit different

are viewed together as the "Earth system."

parts of the planet more directly depending

Each part connects to and affects each of

on the time of year.

the other parts. For example:

From June to August, the sun's rays hit the

Northern Hemisphere more directly than

Clouds in the air drop rain and

snow on land.

the Southern Hemisphere. The result is

warm (summer) weather in the Northern

animals.

Hemisphere and cold (winter) weather in

the Southern Hemisphere.

hit

the

Northern

Hemisphere less directly

than

the

are Phobos and Deimos. They are named

for the sons of Ares, the Greek god of war.
Phobos means fear, and Deimos means
flight.

What
Mars

Is
is

very

Mars
cold.

The

Like?
average

temperature on Mars is minus 80 degrees

Fahrenheit -- way below freezing!
Its surface is rocky, with canyons,
volcanoes, dry lake beds and craters all
over it. Red dust covers most of its
surface. Mars has clouds and wind just like
Earth. Sometimes the wind blows the red
dust into a dust storm. Tiny dust storms
can look like tornados and large ones can
be seen from Earth. Mars large storms
sometimes cover the whole planet.
Mars has about one-third the gravity of

Volcanoes on land send gas and

dust into the air.

People breathe air and drink

From December to February, the sun's

rays

Water gives life to plants and

Mars has two small moons. Their names

Earth. A rock dropped on Mars would fall

more slowly than a rock falls on Earth. A
person who weighs 100 pounds on Earth
would only weigh about 37 pounds on

water.

Mars because of the reduced gravity.

Northern

Earth system science is the study of

Mars atmosphere is much thinner than

Hemisphere and warm (summer) weather

interactions between and among Earth's

Earths. The atmosphere of Mars contains

in the Southern Hemisphere.

different parts.

more than 95 percent carbon dioxide and

From September to November, the sun

What Is Mars?

Southern Hemisphere. The result is cold

(winter)

weather

in

the

shines equally on both hemispheres. The

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and
the next planet beyond Earth. It is, on

much less than 1 percent oxygen.