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Science Report

  

Mercury

A report from the efforts of: Tanner Sutcliffe

            I am studying and reporting to you of Mercury, the first planet from the Sun. I had no role in choosing to study this planet, but I am content with it nonetheless. I am going to write about how it is on Mercury (facts about atmosphere, climate, landscape, etc.), the history of Mercury (forming, eroding, etc.) and other interesting facts. This essay should be a benefit to all readers, so enjoy.

            My planet was discovered in ancient times, by the Greeks. They thought that Mercury was actually two different planets because they did not know that the dot of light found in the East just before dawn, and the dot of light in the West just after dusk could possibly have any relation. They named it Apollo, after their messenger god, when it appeared in the morning and Hermes when it appeared at night. The Romans gave it the name we use today after their messenger god, Mercury. Since then, we have developed much more information on this planet. For a random example, we now know that during the day on Mercury, it can reach up to 840 degrees Fahrenheit and at night it can be as frigid as -275 degrees Fahrenheit. Researchers are learning more about Mercury by sending probes like the Mariner 10 to photograph it in detail.

            Mercury’s surface is a rather plain tan color, and it is covered by craters because the atmosphere is so weak it will let almost any meteor or asteroid through. This planet has a diameter of about 3,032 miles, about two fifths of the size of Earth’s, showing it to be a very small planet. Mercury has no satellites or rings of any kind. The gravitational pull is only one third of Earth’s, possibly one of the reasons why it has no satellites. The mass density, however, is only slightly smaller than Earth’s, because even though it is tiny, it is only a little bit less solid.

            The atmosphere on Mercury consists of very little air and is extremely arid. The reason behind this dry heat may be because the Sun’s rays are around seven times stronger on Mercury than on Earth, and perhaps partially because the atmosphere on Mercury is weak enough to let all of the sunlight in instead of stopping some of it like Earth’s does. The surface of Mercury, like the moon, is covered with a thin line of minerals called silicates. Beneath that, it is believed that Mercury has a mantle just like ours, consisting of magma and rock. Beneath that, Mercury is said to have an iron inner core and a liquid iron outer core, also like Earth. In two craters at the two poles, Mercury is reported to actually have frozen water, deep inside the crater so far that it is shielded from any sunlight to melt it, but it is only a rumor of right now. Other than that, the only thing you would find if you were walking on Mercury would be more craters and minerals.

            The time it takes Mercury to revolve around the Sun is about 88 Earth days. Its slow rotation is about 59 days, the second slowest rotation in our Solar Systems. The surface temperature is estimated to be between 840 degrees Fahrenheit and -275 degrees Fahrenheit. Mercury was first photographed in detail by the Mariner 10 on March 29, 1974. The planet reflects about 6% of the sunlight it receives, exactly the same as the moon. Because of this reflection, Mercury goes through ”Phases” just like the moon does.

            From studying Mercury, I have learned very many things I did not know before. These include that Mercury has phases like the moon, that there may be ice on Mercury’s Poles and that Mercury has the second slowest rotation period in our solar system. As my paper hopefully taught you something you didn’t know, I thank you for reading on and learning more about the very interesting planet Mercury, first from the Sun.

Mercury Resources:
 
Pasachoff, Jay. Prentice Hall Science Explorer Astronomy. 1st edition. 1 volume. Boston, Massachusetts: Prentice Hall, 2007. 86, 101. Print.

 

Maria T. "Mercury." World Book Online Reference Center. 2004. Web, Jan 27, 2010. World Book, Inc. (https://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar356240.)

Stathopoulosast, Vic. "The Planet Mercury." Aerospace. Saturday 28th, November, 2009. Vic Stathopoulos, Web. 27 Jan 2010. .
 
"Mercury Picture of the Day." Nasa.gov. Web. 16 Feb 2010. .
 

 

Pluto

A report from the efforts of: Tanner Sutcliffe

            The planet I am studying and writing on is the dwarf planet, Pluto. I did not personally choose to study this planet, but I am happy studying it nonetheless. I am going to cover appearance, miscellaneous facts, composition and the history of Pluto in this essay. I hope you enjoy this gathering of information.

            Pluto was discovered and named in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh, who photographed it in 1929 after a man named Percival Lowell saw disturbances in the orbits of Neptune and Uranus and predicted where the planet causing this should be. Lowell never lived long enough to see this new planet, but when Tombaugh named it, he named it Pluto so that it would have his initials in it. Also it was named after the Roman god of the dead. Scientists sent the Hubble space telescope to photograph the planet in more detail in 1996, and when it reached its destination, it took a picture then transmitted it back to Earth, and we gained much information this way. Since then, we have discovered many more things about Pluto, and scientists are planning to send more space telescopes like Hubble to learn even more about Pluto. One such satellite is the New Horizons probe, scheduled to photograph Pluto in 2015.

            We have no clear, detailed photographs of the surface on Pluto with which to accurately describe it, but we do know that there are very many craters, dark spots and light spots. The light spots are highlands highlighted by the sun, and the dark spots are their shadows or craters. We speculate that its color is a plain tan brown. We can say all this information because we know that the atmosphere is very weak (hence the craters), and that the planet is probably made out of rock (hence the tan brown color). Also scientists confirm the possibility of this from close examination of the blurry pictures we have. Pluto has no rings, but it has three moons: Charon (found in 1978), Hydra (found in 2005) and Nix (also found in 2005). Charon’s diameter is only 750 miles, and the other two are of unknown size. Charon revolves relatively close to Pluto, but Hydra and Nix revolve farther away, explaining why they were found so much later. Pluto itself only has a diameter of 1,400 miles, small enough to fit inside the United States. The density of Pluto is unknown, but because it is supposed to be made of rock, it is thought to be like Earth’s.

            Pluto is, like I mentioned earlier, thought to be made of rocks, minerals and ice based upon the speculated color and its known size. Pluto’s atmosphere is very weak, so like Mercury, it does not stop sunlight from coming in or out, but unlike Mercury, Pluto is very far away from the Sun and does not trap in heat so it is extremely cold. If you were to walk on Pluto, you would mainly only find ice and craters.

            Pluto’s orbit is irregular compared to the other planets of our solar system; it is an oval at a tilt. Sometimes because of this oval orbit, Pluto is in front of Neptune and becomes the 8th planet while Neptune becomes the 9th. This lasts for around 20 Earth years. The average surface temperature on Pluto is -375 degrees Fahrenheit. In 2006 the New Horizons probe was launched and set on a course for Pluto. It should arrive in 2015.

            In this essay, I learned many interesting facts about Pluto such as: it has three moons, we have never accurately photographed Pluto, and that a thin atmosphere can be as cold as a thick one. The last one is particularly interesting to me. I hope you learned as much as I did in this essay, if not more. Thank you for reading.

Pluto Resources:

Spinrad, Hyron. "Pluto." World Book Online Reference Center. 2004. Web, 27 Jan, 2010. World Book, Inc. https://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar435500.

Pasachoff, Jay. Prentice Hall Science Explorer Astronomy. 1st edition. 1 volume. Boston, Massachusetts: Prentice Hall, 2007. 86, 101. Print.

 

"Pluto: a Mysterious and Cold Place." Astronomy for Kids Online. Web. 16 Feb 2010. .
 
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https://nikkirooni.weebly.com/

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