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Fun facts and trivia about the solar system, including the sun, the planets,
and other celestial bodies.
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Mercury - The Speedy Planet
- Mercury was named after the Roman mythological messenger god. Very appropriately named, since a messenger must be swift, and Mercury is
the fastest of all the planets.
- Mercury is also the closest to the sun.
- Mercury has two other superlatives that it "won" at the expensve of Pluto. Before it was demoted to the status of
Dwarf Planet, Pluto was the smallest and the most eccentric of the planets. Now Mercury has both of those bragging rights. (Eccentric means that it has a very stretched out orbit)
- Though it is closest to the sun, Mercury is not the hottest of the planets. On its daylight side, temperatures get up to 800 degrees Farenheit, but on the night side,
they plummet to 300 degrees below zero.
- Considering its extreme heat during the daytime, it seems unlikely that Mercury would have any ice. However, it is believed that ice exists in the depths of craters at Mercury's poles. After all,
sunlight never makes it to the bottoms of those craters!
"The Solar System" is written by Douglas Twitchell, and hosted at The Problem Site.
Contents copyright 2009 by Douglas Twitchell. Contents of this page may not be reproduced without permission of the author. For information on using
this site in a classroom situation, please visit the Teachers page.
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