NASA Celestia Guided Activity

Mercury

Mercury, the closest planet to our Sun
Seems in such a great big hurry
Mercury seems to orbit as if in a race
Rounding the Sun in 88 days, a very fast pace

Compared to an Earth year
Mercury is 4 times faster
(giving it quite a lead)
Maybe that’s why we named it after
The Roman god of speed!

Even though Mercury is so very hot
Being right there next to the Sun—
You may ask why is Venus hotter?
What could this be from?

This is an important question
Soon you will see
Why science can be fun
Sometimes hot, way cool
And don’t forget FREE!

Mercury is the 1st planet in the solar system

So, could it be…
Venus has a thick gas blanket?
Hiding her surface from being more clear?
While Mercury, so close to Sol
Has very little atmosphere?

Temperature on Mercury from day to night
Rises and falls like a roller coaster
From colder than the coldest freezer
To way hotter than your oven toaster!

So you see, atmospheres are very precious indeed
Fluffy blankets surrounding a planet
To soften the rise and fall of temperature
And protect the surface from the incoming meteor

But little Mercury has no atmosphere
Meteors crash right on through
Creating huge craters
Just like on our Moon

Mercury’s is covered with meteor impacts
Like hundreds of giant cereal bowls
Some may even contain crunchy bits
Of water ice and white snow!
Deep in the craters’ shadow
At both North and South poles
(Radar observations of NASA seem to show)

Of the Solar System planets
Mercury is the second most small
(Pluto is smaller still)
You could play golf with Mercury
If Earth were the size of a baseball

Mercury has only been visited once—
By NASA’s Mariner 10
That was over 25 years ago
When do you think we will go there again?

Music Complements of Catherine Fowler