What is the average temperature in celsius on mercury

In some parts of Mercury, these lava flows have "buried" ancient scarred terrain producing a smoother surface which has not been greatly pock-marked by meteors yet. Mercury is the most dense planet in our solar system when not accounting for gravitational compression. If you count the force of gravitational compression, then Earth is the most dense.

It is believed that Mercury's dense iron core is larger than Earth's and likely compromises most of the planet itself. This would give Mercury relatively thin mantle and crust layers. Interestingly, complex radar observations found evidence of ice water on the shady side of craters on Mercury's north pole.

This could be possible, since Mercury does not tilt on its axis and therefore rotates perpendicular to the Sun. Thus, the Sun will always be at an extremely low angle at the poles. One theory of how this ice water could have been placed on Mercury is from comet residue. Mercury is the least explored "rocky" planet of our inner solar system Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. However it appears that Mercury holds a lot of information about how all of the terrestrial planets have evolved since the beginning times of the solar system.

Messenger should establish orbit around Mercury in March and study it for a year. Average distance from Sun: Average distance from the center of a planet to the center of the Sun. Perihelion: The point in a planet's orbit closest to the Sun. Aphelion: The point in a planet's orbit furthest from the Sun. Sidereal Rotation: The time for a body to complete one rotation on its axis relative to the fixed stars such as our Sun.

Earth's sidereal rotation is 23 hours, 57 minutes. Length of Day: The average time for the Sun to move from the Noon position in the sky at a point on the equator back to the same position. Axis tilt: Imagining that a body's orbital plane is perfectly horizontal, the axis tilt is the amount of tilt of the body's equator relative to the body's orbital plane. Earth is tilted an average of Please Contact Us. Please try another search. Multiple locations were found. Please select one of the following:.

And much like Jupiter, the temperature in the upper atmosphere of Saturn is cold, but increases closer to the center of the planet. Despite its distance from the Sun, the largest contributing factor to its frigid nature has to do with its core. Much like the other gas giants in our Solar System, the core of Uranus gives off far more heat than is absorbed from the Sun. In short, the Solar System runs the gambit from extreme cold to extreme hot, with plenty of variance and only a few places that are temperate enough to sustain life.

And of all of those, it is only planet Earth that seems to strike the careful balance required to sustain it perpetually. Universe Today has many articles on the temperature of each planet, including the temperature of Mars and the temperature of Earth. You may also want to check out these articles on facts about the planets and an overview of the planets. Astronomy Cast has episodes on all planets including Mercury. If Neptune and Uranus are roughly the same size, why does the one closer to the sun, Uranus, have less than half the the surface temperature than the other?

Is the atmospheric pressure simply that different at the surface? What exactly defines the surface of these gas giants? Core temperature not surface temperature has nothing to do with how close a planet is to the sun. I think large impacts may contribute to core temperature, but they have to be big. There is no defineable surface for the gas giants. Correct distances are not shown.

Terrestrial Planet Sizes. Presented here is a complete set of cartographic map sheets from a high-resolution atlas of Saturn's moon Mimas. The Mimas Atlas -- Herschel. This movie shows a concatenation of images, hotly downloaded of the telescope today, April 22, While the frame rate is constant, the movie is time-lapse but by varying degrees.

Credit: NAS Saturn Auroras From Hubble. These flags illustrate the international scope of the Cassini program. International Cooperation. A team of European scientists have analysed several years Saturn's Radio Rotation. Saturn dust. An unprecedented space fleet tracked comet ISON. MOPITT's monthly average of global concentrations of tropospheric carbon monoxide at an altitude of about 12, feet, in April left and April Mapping Carbon Monoxide. A whimsical view of the planets of our solar system and the missions sent from Earth to explore them.

Artist's Concept: Our Solar System. At closet appro Enceladus Flyby - March 12, This image shows the surprise that startled Cassini scientists on the composite infrared spectrometer team when they got their first look at the infrared heat radiation from the south pole of Sat Enceladus Temperature Map.