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In the diagram, the varying distance of Mercury to the Sun is represented by the size of the planet, which is inversely proportional to Mercury's distance from the Sun. This varying distance to the Sun leads to Mercury's surface being flexed by tidal bulges raised by the Sun that are about 17 times stronger than the Moon's on Earth. [110]
Due to the proximity of Mercury to the Sun, Mercury on average receives an energy flux from the Sun that is about 7 times the solar constant, but may reach nearly 11 times at maximum and about 4.5 times at minimum. The Sun will have an angular diameter of 1.733 to 1.142°.
One particularly distant body is 90377 Sedna, which was discovered in November 2003.It has an extremely eccentric orbit that takes it to an aphelion of 937 AU. [2] It takes over 10,000 years to orbit, and during the next 50 years it will slowly move closer to the Sun as it comes to perihelion at a distance of 76 AU from the Sun. [3] Sedna is the largest known sednoid, a class of objects that ...
The transit of Mercury on May 9, 2016. Mercury is visible to the lower left of center. A sun spot is visible above center. Mercury transiting the Sun as viewed by the rover Curiosity on Mars (June 3, 2014). [1] A transit of Mercury across the Sun takes place when the planet Mercury passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet.
With a few exceptions, the farther a planet or belt is from the Sun, the larger the distance between its orbit and the orbit of the next nearest object to the Sun. For example, Venus is approximately 0.33 AU farther out from the Sun than Mercury, whereas Saturn is 4.3 AU out from Jupiter, and Neptune lies 10.5 AU out from Uranus.
Kepler mistakenly believed he had captured Mercury moving in orbit across the sun in May 1607, but he later retracted his report 11 years later and determined he had observed a sunspot group.
from Sun (au) Groups; Objects inside Mercury's zone of influence (None discovered) Objects in Mercury's zone of influence: Mercury: 0.387: Planet: Objects between Mercury's and Venus's zones of influence (164294) 2004 XZ 130: 0.62 [citation needed] Atira asteroid, Mercury-crosser asteroid, Venus-crosser asteroid (434326) 2004 JG 6: 0.635
The only planet missing from the planetary parade is Mercury, which is on the opposite side of the sun than the rest of the planets. Show comments Advertisement