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What is the structure and composition of Mercury?
Mercury appears to have a solid silicate crust and mantle overlying a solid, iron sulfide outer core layer, a deeper liquid core layer, and a solid inner core. The planet’s density is the second highest in the Solar System at 5.427 g/cm3, only slightly less than Earth’s density of 5.515 g/cm3.
What is Venus structure?
The interior of Venus is made of a metallic iron core that’s roughly 2,400 miles (6,000 km) wide. Venus’ molten rocky mantle is roughly 1,200 miles (3,000 km) thick. Venus’ crust is mostly basalt, and is estimated to be 6 to 12 miles (10 to 20 km) thick, on average. Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system.
What are characteristics of Mercury?
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and the eighth largest. It has a diameter of 4,880 kilometers. Mercury has the widest temperature extremes in the solar system ranging from 90 degrees Kelvin to 700 degrees Kelvin. Mercury has a thick iron core and a thinner outer crust of rocky material.
What is Mercury surface made of?
Messenger used X-ray fluorescence spectra to study the surface composition of Mercury. It found a high ratio of magnesium to silicon and low ratios of aluminum and calcium to silicon, which showed that the crust was not rich in feldspar like that of the Moon.
What is Mercury’s hydrosphere?
But you might be surprised to know that astronomers have discovered water on Mercury. Not liquid water, but deposits of water ice at the planet’s poles. This is because there are craters at the north and south poles of Mercury which are eternally in shadow.
What is Jupiter structure?
Structure. The composition of Jupiter is similar to that of the Sun – mostly hydrogen and helium. Deep in the atmosphere, pressure and temperature increase, compressing the hydrogen gas into a liquid. This gives Jupiter the largest ocean in the solar system – an ocean made of hydrogen instead of water.
What is the terrain like on Mercury?
Mercury’s surface is dominated by impact craters, basaltic rock and smooth plains, many of them a result of flood volcanism, similar in some respects to the lunar maria, and locally by pyroclastic deposits.
What are Mercury’s layers?
Mercury appears to have a solid silicate crust and mantle overlying a solid, iron sulfide outer core layer, a deeper liquid core layer, and possibly a solid inner core. These results have implications for how Mercury’s magnetic field is generated and for understanding how the planet evolved thermally.