Space Station Info :: Nine Planet Solar System :: Space Mercury :: History of Mercury Planet

History of Mercury Planet

Mercury has been known since at least the time of the Sumerians (3rd millennium BC), who called it Ubu-idim-gud-ud. The earliest recorded detailed observations were made by the Babylonians, who called it gu-ad or gu-utu. It was given two names by the ancient Greeks, Apollo when visible in the morning sky and Hermes when visible in the evening, but Greek astronomers came to understand that the two names referred to the same body. Heraclitus even believed that Mercury and Venus orbited the Sun, not the Earth.

In 1631, Pierre Gassendi became the first person to observe the transit of a planet across the Sun, viewing the transit of Mercury predicted by Johannes Kepler.

In 1639, Giovanni Zupi used a telescope to discover that the planet had orbital phases just like Venus and the Moon. This demonstrated conclusively that Mercury orbited around the Sun.

Also see the

vSpace Mercury
vPhysical Characteristics of Mercury
vMercury Rotation
vMercury Orbit
vMercury Magnetosphere
vHistorical Understanding Of Mercury
vObserving Mercury
vExploration Of Mercury