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Mercury Planet Research Paper

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Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, is a rocky, solid planet and is therefore called a terrestrial planet. It was once volcanic. As such, it... Due to a thin atmosphere, the surface also shows evidence of many impacts, as it has many craters. Temperatures can vary between 90 and 700 Kelvin. Because of the wildly fluctuating conditions caused by these temperatures, and also due to any life-sustaining elements (although there is some evidence of water at the poles), there is almost certainly no life on Mercury. Though it does not show any signs of clouds or dust storms, implying a significant lack of weather on the planet, it does still have a magnetic field, though it is only 1/100th of the strength of Earth's. The largest crater is called the Caloris Basin, which is 1,550km wide. Another crater is Rachmaninoff, which is 306km wide. The outer shell of the planet is approximately 400km thick. …show more content…
Its atmosphere contains 96.5% carbon dioxide, and 3.5% nitrogen, but it also contains sulfuric acid clouds, which reflect light and cause difficulties for Muggle astronomers in attempts to view the planet's surface. However, the Magellan mission in the 1990s managed to map 98% of the surface. The toxicity of the atmosphere destroys any probes sent to the planet's surface, as well as causing significant erosion of the surface itself. The temperature on Venus can fluctuate from -364 to 870F. The theory is that Venus' temperatures were once similar to our own, but that greenhouse gases caused a significant increase in temperature. These extremely high temperatures make it unlikely that the planet has the ability to support life, though evidence of there previously being water on the planet do not rule out that it did not in the

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