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There are eight planets in thesolar system , and each travel on its own way of life around the sunshine . But of these planet , which is penny-pinching to the sun ?
Mercuryis the near planet to the sun , followed by Venus , Earth , Mars , Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus and Neptune . Mercury orbits at only0.387 astronomical units ( AU ) , or about 36 million miles ( 58 million klick ) , from our star , on average . For comparison , Earth is 1 AU from the Sunday , andNeptune is a whopping 30AUfrom our star .
Which of these planets is the closest solar neighbor?
Mercury is a foreign little world . There aresome craterson its Earth’s surface that never see sun . It also hasthe most utmost temperaturesof any satellite in the solar system . Temperatures there can range from minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit ( minus 184 degree Celsius ) — almost double as moth-eaten as the most frigid position in the Arctic — to over 800 F ( 427 cytosine ) , which is spicy than a pizza oven .
" One might cerebrate Mercury is very hot all the time because it ’s so airless to the sun,“Maria Vincent , an stargazer at the University of Hawaii , say Live Science . " But it ’s not — rather , the side of Mercury facing the Lord’s Day is ultrahot , and the night side is stop dead cold . "
" This is becauseMercury has no atmosphereto regulate the temperature , " Vincent said . " Its gravitative force is just too petty to support on to a blanket of melodic phrase around it , and even if an atmospheric state did form , vivid radiotherapy from the close by sun and subsequent solar wind would have strip it all away . "
Interestingly , despite being farther from the sun , Venus is actually spicy than Mercury . This is because Venus does have an incredibly thick blanket of aura , which trap so much warmth around the planet thatits surface can reach 900 F(482 C ) .
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On Mercury , the hot days are also incredibly long . Because Mercury rotates so slowly — once every 58 Earth day — in some places , the sunlight can seem overhead for week at a time . Ayear on Mercuryis only 1.5 Mercurian sidereal day , or 88 Earth day . These extreme temperatures , among other factors , make life sentence as we experience it unacceptable on Mercury . " The utmost weather conditions do not allow for the planet to have liquid urine , which is the fundament of habitableness as we get it on it , " Vincent said .
Very few missions have made it to Mercury , which isa amazingly dodgy target to contact . However , theBepiColombo mission — a collaborationism between theEuropean Space Agencyand the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency — is pose to orbit Mercury in the next few class , and should give us a close tone at the least - explored planet in the internal solar arrangement . We still have so much to learn about this uncanny , stony creation and what it ’s like so close to a bright star .
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