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Physical Characteristics Of Mercury
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Temperature
Mercury has a mean surface temperature
of 452 K, but it ranges from 90–700 K; The
sunlight on Mercury's surface is 6.5 times as
strong as it is on Earth, with the solar constant
having a value of 9.13 kW/m².
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Terrain
For a period of about 800 million
years Mercury, was heavily bombarded by comets
and asteroids. At this period of powerful crater
formation, the surface established impacts above
its intact surface, facilitated by the lack of
any atmosphere to slow impactors down. At this
time, the planet was volcanically active, and
basins such as the Caloris Basin were filled by
magma from within the planet, which produced smooth
plains similar to the maria found on the moon.
Apart from craters of diameters in the range of
hundreds of meters to hundreds of kilometers,
there are others of massive proportions such as
Caloris, the largest structure on the surface
of Mercury with a diameter of 1,300 km. The impact
was so powerful that it caused lava eruptions
on the crust of the planet and left a concentric
ring surrounding the impact crater over 2 km high.
The consequences of Caloris are also remarkable:
it is broadly acknowledged as the cause for the
fractures and leaks on the opposite side of the
planet.
The plains of Mercury have two
different ages; the younger plains are less
a lot cratered and probably formed when lava
flows obscured earlier terrain. One remarkable
feature of the planet's surface is the abundant
compression folds which criss-cross the plains.
It is initiative that as the planet's interior
cooled, it contracted, and its surface began
to collapse. The folds can be seen on top
of other features, such as the craters and
smoother plains, indicating that they are
more recent. Mercury's surface is also flexed
by considerable tidal bulges, raised by the
Sun. |
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