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Mercury vs. Venus - Comparison of sizes
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Mercury vs Venus - Comparison

Mercury
Venus
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Mercury

Mercury

Diameter (km)4.879,4
Distance to sun (km)57910000
Equator (km)15329
Temperature-173

Mercury is the first planet from the Sun and the smallest in the Solar System. In English, it is named after the Roman god Mercurius (Mercury), god of commerce and communication, and the messenger of the gods. Mercury is classified as a terrestrial planet, with roughly the same surface gravity as Mars. The surface of Mercury is heavily cratered, as a result of countless impact events that have accumulated over billions of years. Its largest crater, Caloris Planitia, has a diameter of 1,550 km (960 mi) and one-third the diameter of the planet (4,880 km or 3,030 mi). Similarly to the Earth's Moon, Mercury's surface displays an expansive rupes system generated from thrust faults and bright ray systems formed by impact event remnants. Mercury's sidereal year (88.0 Earth days) and sidereal day (58.65 Earth days) are in a 3:2 ratio. This relationship is called spin–orbit resonance, and sidereal here means 'relative to the stars'. Consequently, one solar day (sunrise to sunrise) on Mercury lasts for around 176 Earth days: twice the planet's sidereal year. This means that one side of Mercury will remain in sunlight for one Mercurian year of 88 Earth days; while during the next orbit, that side will be in darkness all the time until the next sunrise after another 88 Earth days.



Combined with its high orbital eccentricity, the planet's surface has widely varying sunlight intensity and temperature, with the equatorial regions ranging from −170 °C (−270 °F) at night to 420 °C (790 °F) during sunlight. Due to the very small axial tilt, the planet's poles are permanently shadowed. This strongly suggests that water ice could be present in the craters. Above the planet's surface is an extremely tenuous exosphere and a faint magnetic field that is strong enough to deflect solar winds. Mercury has no natural satellite. As of the early 2020s, many broad details of Mercury's geological history are still under investigation or pending data from space probes. Like other planets in the Solar System, Mercury was formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago. Its mantle is highly homogeneous, which suggests that Mercury had a magma ocean early in its history, like the Moon. According to current models, Mercury may have a solid silicate crust and mantle overlying a solid outer core, a deeper liquid core layer, and a solid inner core. There are many competing hypotheses about Mercury's origins and development, some of which incorporate collision with planetesimals and rock vaporization.

Source: Wikipedia
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Venus

Venus

Diameter (km)12104
Distance to sun (km)108200000
Equator (km)38025
Temperature437/497

Venus is the second planet from sunlight. It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. As the thing in the night sky after the Moon, Venus may be, on occasion, visible to the naked eye in broad daylight and can cast shadows. Venus lies within Earth's orbit, and never appears to venture either setting in the west just after dusk or rising in the east a bit before sunrise. Venus orbits the Sun every 224.7 Earth days. Having a rotation period of 243 Earth days, it takes longer to rotate about its axis than any other planet in the Solar System and does so in the opposite direction to all but Uranus (meaning that the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east). Venus does not have any moons, a distinction it shares only with Mercury among planets in the Solar System.Venus is a terrestrial planet and is sometimes called Earth's"sister planet" because of their similar size, mass, proximity to the Sun, and bulk composition. It is different from Earth in different respects. It's the atmosphere of the four planets, consisting of over 96% carbon dioxide. The atmospheric pressure at the planet's surface is 92 times that of Earth, or roughly the pressure found 900 m (3,000 feet ) underwater on Earth. Venus is by far the hottest planet in the Solar System, with a mean surface temperature of 735 K (462 °C; 863 °F), even though Mercury is closer to the Sun. Venus is shrouded by an opaque layer of reflective clouds of sulfuric acid, preventing its surface from being seen from space in light.



It might have had water oceans before, as the temperature rose because of a runaway greenhouse effect but these could have vaporized. The water has photodissociated, and the hydrogen that is free has been swept into space by the solar wind due to the lack of a planetary magnetic field. Venus's surface is a sterile desertscape interspersed with slab-like rocks and is periodically resurfaced by volcanism. Venus has been a significant fixture in human civilization for as long as records have existed. It has been made sacred to gods of many cultures, and has been a inspiration for writers and poets as the morning star and evening star. Venus was the first planet to have its motions plotted across the sky, as early as the second millennium BC.As the planet with the nearest approach to Earth, Venus has been a prime target for early interplanetary exploration. It was the first planet beyond Earth visited by a spacecraft (Mariner 2 in 1962), and also the first to be successfully landed on (by Venera 7 in 1970). The thick clouds of venus render observation of its surface impossible in visible light, and the detailed maps did not emerge before the Magellan orbiter's coming in 1991. Plans have been proposed for more complex missions or rovers, but the hostile surface conditions of Venus hinder them. In January 2020, astronomers reported evidence that suggests that Venus is volcanically active.

Source: Wikipedia

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