Chapter 9: Mercury

Question 1

Describe Mercury (named after who, which planet number from the sun, satelittes, size)

Answer 1

Mercury, which is named after the Roman god, is the “first rock from Sun”, has no natural satellites, and is small

Question 2

Why is Mercury hard to observe in sky from Earth?

Answer 2

it always stays in the same region of the sky as the Sun
(which makes it hard to see from Earth)

and it never gets closer to us than about 80 million kilometres. Even with the most powerful instruments, scientists have seen only pale smudges of Mercury’s surface from Earth.

Question 3

Describe Mariner 10’s mission and why it was significant.

Answer 3

Mariner 10’s Mission: Mariner 10 was the only spacecraft that made a close approach to Mercury for many years. It flew past Mercury three times in 1974 and 1975. During these flybys, Mariner 10 collected a significant amount of data that constituted almost all the detailed knowledge we had about Mercury for a long time.

Question 4

Is Mariner 10 still in operation?

Answer 4

No, Mariner 10’s communication systems failed, and while it still orbits the Sun and periodically approaches Mercury, it no longer sends data or functions actively.