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Mercury
is the smallest and closet planet to the sun. It has the same
size as the Moon and its diameter is 1.4 times that of the Moon.
Mercury's surface exhibits enormous escarpments of huge length
difference and we call them wrinkle ridge. This is the unique
geological feature of Mercury and they may be caused by the contraction
after cooling down.
Mercury
is small in size but was cooled down in a short time. Along with
the rapidly dropping temperature, Mercury's surface contracted
vigorously and that caused wrinkles.
Mercury's
surface has many similarities with that of the Moon and we can
see meteorite bombardments. There is no ocean and atmosphere surrounding.
It is quite desolate.
The
average density of Mercury is 5430 kilograms per cubic kilometer
and it is just next to that of Earth among nine planets. Scientists
conclude that it is because Mercury has a large iron core.
Mercury
is close to the Sun and the tropic region on it is very hot due
to strong sunray. Two poles only receive weak sunlight; thus,
some bottoms of meteorite bombardments never receive sunlight
and become "Dark Area" with the temperature of -210C. Thus, glacier
can last in this area for more than billions years.
There
is no air on Mercury and there is no ocean to adjust the temperature.
Mercury has the extreme type of continent climate with huge temperature
difference during day time and night time up to 600。C, ranking
the first in the Solar system.
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