Mercury In Gentle Mythology

In astronomical mythology, Mercury was the name of Roman Greek god Hermes. Mercury was messenger to other gods thus it is often depicted with winged sandals in

pictures. He is also known to be the protector of merchants and travelers. The planet Mercury is the most closest to the sun in our solar system.
The date of discovery of mercury is unknown. The earliest observations date back to Mul.Apin tablets, possibly done by Assyrian astronomers in 14th century BC.

Babylonian observations were recorded to be about 1 millennium BC.
Research using Telescope and its observations are given in the following:
Galileo and Harriott invented telescope and observed Mercury from it. In the same year, Pierre Gassendi uses a telescope and observed it as

On 24 April, 2015 it got out of fuel thus making it uncontrollable and finally

leading to an inevitable crash on Mercury’s surface.
Some interesting facts about Mercury are:
If you weigh 70 lbs. (pounds) on Earth than you will weigh 27 lbs. on Mercury
Earth has about 3 times more diameter as compared to Mercury.
Mercury is closest to the sun, and somewhat near to Earth, so it can be observed late at night or early in the morning. That is why it is also called evening and

morning star respectively.
Mercury’s iron core cooled and its surface shrunk, giving it wrinkles
One day on Mercury is equal to 59 Earth days, and it orbits around the sun in 88 earth days. So, a solar year would only be 88 Earth days long.
Mercury has no moons and does not have any ring around it like Saturn.
Can’t breathe on it due to almost no atmosphere (thin layer of atmosphere), is constituted mostly of O2, Na, H2, He and K.
While Standing on Mercury’s surface the sun would appear more than three times larger as would appear on Earth.
Orbit Size Around Sun 57,909,227 km
Mean Orbit Velocity 170,503 km/h
Equatorial Inclination 0 degrees
Equatorial Radius 15,329.1

As the planet’s core began to cool its surface deformed. Resultantly, compression folds and rough plains are present on

Mercury’s surface.
As colonization on other planets has been a hot topic in the past. So, different space shuttles were sent to study atmospheric conditions of the planets in our solar

system. By that means, mercury is suggested to be a possible target for space colonization. Whereas, other suggested options are Moon, Mars and Venus.
Bruce Murray referred Mercury as a mini Earth in Moon’s clothing.
Mercury does not have atmosphere like Moon, it means heat cannot be transferred by convection. Moreover, as it closest to the sun colonists and sensitive things may

need serious precautionary measures, from intense solar radiation. Being closest to the sun, solar energy is there in vast amounts. Its solar constant is pretty high.

A possibility of peaks of eternal lights is also there, which are also available on the Moon.
Predictions have been made that Mercury’s surface contains helium content. So, it could be used for in production of clean nuclear fusion energy. Its surface is also

expected to contain iron and magnesium silicates in high