Planet Mercury: The closest planet to the sun

The closest planet to the sun is Mercury. It’s a rocky, desolate planet covered in craters but with a heart of iron- literally! But don’t let its barren surface fool you - Mercury is wild. Named after a Roman god, it has the gravity of a much larger planet and in a single day, the temperature changes over 1,100℉! And wait until you hear about Mercury’s days.
In this episode, we’re going to talk a lot about planetary orbits. We’ll try and wrap our heads around Mercury’s elliptical orbit, its solar days, sidereal days, and orbital resonance. Plus, we’re going to talk a little about why Mercury is difficult to explore and the spacecraft that have, including Mariner-10, Messenger, and BepiColombo.
Although it may seem like a boring, rocky little planet, Mercury has a lot of character and quirks.
Video Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:33 - Ancient History of Mercury
00:57 - Closest Planet to the Sun
01:33 - What is a “Day”?
01:42 - Solar Day vs Sidereal Day
02:36 - Circular Orbits vs Elliptical Orbits
03:17 - Perihelion on Mercury
03:37 - Overview of Mercury’s Orbit
03:52 - Mercury compared to other Planets
04:07 - Mercury’s Core
04:32 - Why Mercury has no Atmosphere
04:49 - Why Mercury is hard to Explore
05:37 - Wrap Up
Other Resources:
🔗 Learn more about Mercury- solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/...
🔗 Watch our full animation of Mercury's orbit- • Mercury's Spin-Orbit R...
👨‍🚀 Follow us on Instagram for behind-the-scenes content and quick space-facts from our videos / digitalastronaut.tv
🎥 Want to help us make more videos and reach more people? Like this video and subscribe to our channel!
Episode Credits:
Written, Directed, and Edited: Jared Belcher
3D Animation: Andy Belcher ( / andy__animates )
2D Animation and Compositing: Jared Belcher
Original Theme Music: Branded.
Episode Music: “Reborn” by Bradford Night
💻Equipment Used:
iPhone 13 Pro
Sony A6500
Tascam DR-10L Portable Digital Audio Recorder With Lavalier Microphone amzn.to/3pCXF0g
2022 MacBook Air (M2) amzn.to/3ADHtlC
2019 MacBook Pro
Autodesk Maya
Final Cut Pro
Apple Motion

[@laletemanolete]

Underated channel!

[@DigitalAstronaut]

Thanks!

[@Aveeage]

Very underrated channel m8.. Remember when you get famous 1 day!

[@DigitalAstronaut]

Really appreciate your kind words! This is simply a topic I love and one I love to teach what little I have learned.