Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The phase curve of Venus [15] compared to Mercury, [1] and the brightness excess of Venus.. The relatively flat phase curve of Venus is characteristic of a cloudy planet. [14] In contrast to Mercury where the curve is strongly peaked approaching phase angle zero (full phase) that of Venus is rounded.
Mercury and Venus are visible only in twilight hours because their orbits are interior to that of Earth. Venus is the third-brightest object in the sky and the most prominent planet. Mercury is more difficult to see due to its proximity to the Sun. Lengthy twilight and an extremely low angle at maximum elongations make optical filters necessary ...
Mercury features in the first published comic book story of Jack Kirby, Mercury in the 20th Century, published in Red Raven Comics 1, 1940. [ 19 ] The United States' so-called Mercury dime , issued from 1916 to 1945, actually features a Winged Liberty and not the god Mercury, but despite wearing a Phrygian cap instead of a winged helm, the coin ...
On August 23, 2023, Venus retrograde and Mercury retrograde will join forces for a wild and crazy finale to summer. As you look at your calendar to lock in your last-minute summer plans, there are ...
Venus lacks an internal dynamo, and its weakly induced magnetosphere is caused by atmospheric interactions with the solar wind. Internal heat escapes through active volcanism, [21] [22] resulting in resurfacing instead of plate tectonics. Venus is one of two planets in the Solar System, the other being Mercury, that have no moons. [23]
Mercury is one of four terrestrial planets in the Solar System, which means it is a rocky body like Earth. It is the smallest planet in the Solar System, with an equatorial radius of 2,439.7 kilometres (1,516.0 mi). [4] Mercury is also smaller—albeit more massive—than the largest natural satellites in the Solar System, Ganymede and Titan.
In the past, various alternative hypotheses have been proposed to explain Venus's retrograde rotation, such as collisions or it having originally formed that way. [a] Despite being closer to the Sun than Venus, Mercury is not tidally locked because it has entered a 3:2 spin–orbit resonance due to the eccentricity of its orbit.
"Inferior planet" refers to Mercury and Venus, which are closer to the Sun than Earth is. "Superior planet" refers to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (the latter two added later), which are further from the Sun than Earth is. The terms are sometimes used more generally; for example, Earth is an inferior planet relative to Mars.