A Mercury year is to the tune of a (Mercury) day and a half long. A Uranus day and - year are more or less the same, since Uranus has the same pole pointed at the sun at all times. How do you count days with now dawn?
What a fascinating and well presented video, straight into facts and figures without any preamble. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to your voice explaining it in such an easy way to understand. Great visuals too. Thanks for sharing 😊
That's funny!! I wonder if I would have noticed if I hadn't read this comment!?! I was into the video for a few seconds when I started to read the comments! @@ioneeamigo8357
@@psycatnip Sorry to disagree, but it was stated wrong. During the course of 1 day on earth, Mercury does not see 59 days. Mercury sees a small fraction of a day during the course of 1 earth day.
@@psycatnip No. It was a reversal of fact by the narrator, as seantuohy suggested. One day on Mercury is equal to 59 Earth days. Which means a Mercury year is equal to one and a half Mercury days, roughly, or about 90 Earth days.
Yes, he reversed the figures, because one Mercury day is so slow, that, by the time it finishes one spin, Earth would have spun and spun and spun 59 times.
THIS was so well done! Finally, a RUclips video that's well produced, presented and with good narration. Mercury is such a cool planet, and it's good to know that science seems to have a pretty good handle on it.
Nice video with a lot of information I didn't know about Mercury. Also appreciate the use of both Traditional and Metric units for us non-STEM Americans who don't use SI all the time.
What is SI please? It amuses me that the US uses old British Empire Imperial measurements for distances. And weights. I recall the South African comedian/commentator Trevor Noah becoming all US patriotic about it. Not connecting the word Imperial with Empire. He is very knowledgeable so I was surprised. The Polish physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit devised the Fahrenheit system of temperature measurement back in the 18th century. Anders Celsius followed with his system. (Tho' upside down). Britain used Fahrenheit until 1961/2. Weather forecasters used to give the temp in both versions. Later when we went decimal in 1970 they would say eg "tomorrow will be warm at 20°. In "old money" that's 60.
@@f87115 I know this is 2 months old, but I have to say: Someone didn't watch the video. If you had, you'd know that we had satellites scanning it, giving us all kinds of information on it. Artist's renditions are just there to help the average person visualize certain concepts, but some of those images are actual pictures. If you want to play idiocracy, that's your business.
Thanks for using the word "may" and "probably" in your explanations. I appreciate you reminding us that we didn't see what happened so we are making hypotheses that could explain what happened.
But he still uses the term "impact craters" like theres only one way craters can be formed, ignoring electrical science that proves craters can be formed via electrical discharge: particularly those hexagonal shaped craters with a pyramid type formation at the center.
@@sihop9220 yeah, those craters look like some spot welds I've seen, not to mention that mercury is relatively small compared to solar flares, so large voltages could actually cause much of the patterns you see with the surface. Also, electrical forces are 10^32 times more powerful than gravity...so we probably shouldn't ignore it. I will take what I can get on this but yeah "probably impact craters" would be better. I've had to aggressively teach my kids that much of what science says as "fact" is really based on "assumptions". some are better assumptions than others. but until we verify the assumptions as universal in time and space, we don't really know for sure.
I really find your voice soothing. I clicked on the video because I do want to know but this narrative is out of this world. I am a subscriber now. Thank you very much, Sir.
😅Pluto. Hmm. I was about to joke to be careful not to talk that Mercury doesn't seem to "rank" as a planet. That is, some astro physicist might decide it NOT Really a planet like happened to PLUTO.
I don't think he meant the Sun itself going supernova, but it wasn't elaborated on and could be incorrect anyway... there were clearly some errors in the script.
Pretty sure if anyone visited Mercury and survived to tell about it, it would be the highlight of their life. What fucking difference does it make if you like to collect rocks? 🤣
Thank you so very much. I really love the way that you present the science and break it down into manageable and understandable concepts. I love astronomy wanted to be an astronaut when I was younger, but yeah having an air problem so can’t do that and your voice is so relaxing. Thank you so much for taking the time to research this and share it with the rest of us. Big hugs and have an awesome day.
Mercury is basically a big ball of iron with a thin veneer of rock. The remnants of what was once a much larger planet, until a huge impact took most of the crust away. An absolutely fantastically presented documentary....
@@roharbaconmoo Right?!! I'm only minute and 40 secs in, but: "one day on earth, would be 59 days on mercury". That guy must have showed up for opposite day and gotten the memo a day early ;D
@@Vaportrail56 and too bad they winged everything as they went to make it work and did not note changes down in the plans, so we cannot rebuild or recreate what they made.
Am I thinking about this correctly? At about 1:40 minutes in it talks about how slowly Mercury rotates saying one day on Earth would 59 days on Mercury. Shouldn't that be the other way around? I'm thinking it means one Mercury day is about 59 Earth days.
@@failurestrings "...saying one day on Earth would [equal] 59 days on Mercury." So Mercury would then be spinning much faster than Earth spins which it doesn't, iirc. It probably should have been stated the other way around. It should be one Mercury rotation (day) happens in 59 days on Earth. It isn't locked with the sun. It has a 3:2 orbit resonance meaning that in Mercury time it rotated three times (3 days based on Mercury) per every 2 orbits around the sun (Mercury years). So a day on Mercury is longer than a year on Mercury.
Growing up in the early 70's and 80's I always thought that we would discover more interesting things about the planets we first saw as Boring and uninteresting. And this video and others like it have vindicated those thoughts. I wish my teachers were alive to see these. Thank you for posting!
OK! I am VERY wary about science based channels when it comes to the subject of outer space bodies because soo many are either monotonous or have a REALLY bad narrator. I think a good narrator is what can sell a doc. So in saying that I must say that this channel is SUPERB! Only 2minutes in I was mesmerized! You got a new subber : ]
Thank you for a really good video on this smallest planet. I've been fascinated by it but there has been so little information on it in the public's eye!
Read books! or if printed pages are too much for you, then just Google it or RUclips it, there's loads of info at a screen press. Rmbr Mercury is the Winged Messenger, say no more..
On a clear night sky, you will see Mercury & Venus. Mercury is very bright & not like a star that twinkles but has a lightbulb intensity albeit very far away! Same with Venus, all you need is your eyes 👀, look up & stop walking!
Also of interest, quoting from the Wikipedia page on the planet Mercury: "Mercury orbits the Sun in a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance, meaning that relative to the background stars, it rotates on its axis exactly three times for every two revolutions it makes around the Sun.[a][21] Counterintuitively, due to Mercury's slow rotation, an observer on the planet would see only one Mercurian solar day (176 Earth days) every two Mercurian solar years (88 Earth days each).[4]" [See the Wikipedia article for the citation references.] By contrast, Earth has a 24 hour solar day, but a full rotation of Earth relative to the background stars occurs in approximately 23 hours and 56 minutes.
1:40 "One day on Earth would be 59 days on Mercury" ? The way I read this is that while a person on Earth experiences one day, "One day on Earth", a person on Mercurty experiences 59 days "would be 59 days on Mercury". That means Mercury is spinning aaround its axis 59 times faster than Earth? Which is not what you wanted to say.
Whew. I thought I was mispronouncing Mercury, but I checked online, and I wasn't wrong. It's very ironic that you say "tempertyure" and you don't say "Mercyury."
We're so used to science being explained to us in an upper-class English accent, hearing the same things in a thick American accent -- and not a neutral one but a Southern one like mine -- feels "off".
I really like the presentation of this video--the soft edges of the distinctly well-enunciated, gently southern (US) narrator's accent was very pleasing, and lends itself well to masterfully conveying educational content--as opposed to the "Zeus is speaking from his throne on Mt. Olympus to dumb mortals" melodrama often used, today...;) Very refreshing! (A small, but important distinction, imo.) From the comments, I can see that others noticed it as well, and were also similarly impressed. Educators take heed. It stands out for me and others because it is a presentational style not commonly seen/used these days (unfortunately!). Or, maybe it's just that I watch too many RUclips video clips that purport to be "scientific"!...;) I noted only one very small but fairly major error in the entire presentation, and that is found in the beginning intro, where it is stated that Mercury's magnetic field is strong enough to deflect a supernova/e star flare...;) Uh, no...;) As noted in the entire presentation, some normally encountered solar-wind particles will be deflected by the field, but even the Earth's much stronger magnetic field would avail nothing in the event of a direct supernova flare hit from trusty old Sol! And in the event of such a supernova extinction event in our system, Mercury and possibly even Earth would be completely subsumed inside the expanding star itself in such a supernova. The damage would be terrific and permanent. Of course, since Mercury is a dead planet, it might emerge "unscathed" after the terminal flare subsides, but that has nothing to do with the magnetic field of Mercury! Hah, of course not. The statement in the intro was not repeated anywhere in the body of the video, hence it must have simply been a minor oversight.
Awesome info….Love astronomy and our solar system. How I wish I could have been a part of some of the scientific research and study of this and other things, it would have brightened my day, but it wasn’t meant to be. I’ve missed something special though and now I only get to see through the eyes of what others have accomplished within the work of the scientific field. This keeps us on our toes and helps to know that what we think we know is always changing and giving us new insights and into showing just how precious our plant Earth really is. HIGH 5….👍👍❤️❤️🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Let your hope not be lost, I am a backyard astronomer and a city dweller. Though life once allowed me to gaze at the stars when I was 4-20 years old.❤❤❤ Life will give you the chance May we give life a chance.
Thanks for using Imperial units of measurement with metric equivalents for those who need or want them. I understand the benefits of the metric system but it's nice to see things dimensioned in miles. Good job!
No, MESSENGER did not create the first "real images" of Mercury. Mariner 10's photos were no less real than MESSENGER's, they just had a lower resolution.
I'm wonder if mercury and Venus having very slow rotation (backwards in Venus's case) means that they themselves collided. Or if there were just lots of protoplanets and what we see today are the last ones standing.
Really hoping, for this man’s views’ sake, that I’m the only one who initially can’t get over the way he /completely/ mispronounces “temperature” as “temp-you’re-ture”. ITS DRIVING ME CRAZY.
I believe, but could be wrong, that it was Pluto’s size that caused it to be downgraded. There are to many objects in the Oort Cloud that are similar size to Pluto, which would mean they could all qualify as planets.
I don't know this for sure but I suspect it would have to have a molten core to be considered a planet, hence why size comes into the equation; but composition and external forces would have to be accounted for making it difficult to tell
if it has such a slow rotation, wouldn't it be "1 day on mercury is 59 days on earth" ? instead what was said in the video "1 day on earth is 56 days on mercury" ?
Ok, so imagine Mercury spinning around slowly and your friend has a stop watch, your friends on Earth, you watch Mercury spin and when the spot you first noticed comes around you know it's made a rotation....then you ask your friend "how long was that"...he hits the stop watch and says.." about 59 days."
I helped almost a couple of years ago my daughter with researching for a school assignment and I noticed, then, that the same thing was said without verification. If the planet rotates extremely slow, how the heck one day on Earth, faster then, equates to 59 (??) on Mercury? It should be the other way around, if the planet revolves slowly, 59 days on Earth are one on Mercury. Am I missing something here or people just copy and paste information without even considering a bit about it? Thank you!
With the 3:2 ratio of rotation, does this mean that Mercury is not tidally locked? Forgive my ignorance, but my physics knowledge is basic at the best of times, but I enjoy learning what I can. Thank you.
A good video but "2.5x closer" isn't English or logical - multiplying by a number greater than 1 results in something bigger. We say things like "one-third the distance".
@@Mr.Plant_manit’s just a southern accent 😂. As a fellow southerner, northern or western accents are just as “infuriating” to us. We’re all “muricans” here.
A lot of interesting information. I always thought of Mercury as just a rock like a moon or an asteroid more than a planet. I never knew there was so much more to it.
I recently was gifted the picture called The Pale Blue Dot. Its so unbelievable that we are just that, in the bigger picture. Carl Sagan's words are so true.
The aphelion of Mercury is never in the same position relative to the stars and moves slowly. Scientists could not explain this. However, when Einstein's time dilation equations were applied, it accounted for the movement of Mercury's orbit within 1% accuracy. It was the first significant proof of special relativity.
It isn’t the “time dilation” which corrected for Mercury’s orbital progression, it was the gravitational equations in General Relativity (not Special Relativity) which accounted for it.
@@annasdad8008 My understanding is that general relativity describes the curvature of space which increases with increase in gravitational field. At Mercury's perihelion it is closest to the Sun and will experience a higher gravitational force, whereby the space time is more warped (although strictly gravity is not a force in general relativity), and as such it moves faster. This means, that Mercury takes less time to travel a distance compared to a stationary observer in space (i.e. astronomers on Earth). As a result, following perihelion it emerges in a different position in space, compared to that when applying Newtonian mechanics. The equation that accounts for this change in position comes from the time dilation equation, as applied to distance, and such is special relativity.
@@malcolmabram2957 Mercury's precession was one of ways that Einstein identified the right gravitational field equation. Every time he thought he found the right formulation, gave it to his PhD student to see if it predicted the precession right. After many failed attempts, he finally got a formula that worked. It has nothing to do with Special Relativity.
Thanks to you guys for digging in a little deeper to this topic. I am surprised the video's authors did not mention this special fact about Mercury's orbit.
Am I losing my mind?? He said 1 day on earth is 59 days on Mercury. Isn't it 59 days on earth is 1 day on Mercury?? Also 2.5 times closer??? What does that mean, shouldn't it be something like 1/3 the distance from the sun compared to Earth? Very weird explanations.
You're not losing your mind, "times less" or "times closer" makes no logical sense, but people say it anyway. Also the 59 days thing was flipped, I don't think the script was proofread.
The "Hollows" at 19:34 appear to have enormous sand dunes in the small hollow between the two much larger, upper depressions. The dunes look like the part of one underlying alluvial plane. These would be created by liquid most likely, or by complex winds. Liquid would be my guess, which came down from a cut in the large depression on top of it.
So well done and all free. Thanks so much to all involved. 46% oxygen really surprised me along with water and ice at its poles. It’s hard to believe that a species could be so intelligent and capable yet so flawed and harmful to itself. But nonetheless good people endeavor to achieve good things for all humanity.
@johnmichaels4330 huh? "So well done and free" as in, this took a lot of time and work to make but we get to see it for free. The species he's referring to is us. Intelligent enough to explore space and create the things we create, but still we kill eachother every day and let people starve to death and suffer from greed and all that. I don't know why you think it's translated poorly. Maybe you just read it too fast and missed some words.
@@danm2084 The idea that conflict and progress aren't inextricably linked is wishful thinking. If we weren't killing each other then we wouldn't be in space either.
Bepi Columbo's actual mission objectives: property assessment, evaluation of precious metals and water quantities, necessary for producing a reasonably accurate resource map for claimants who want to buy them now.
Has the feel of a video put together by some sort of bot programme feeding off a database of images and text sources. It's made quite a number of mistakes of understanding and logic. Uncorrected - hopefully the humans won't notice!!
Is it possible the crust on Mercury is littered with caves, or maybe rubble covered with dust? The lack of plate tectonics and meteor impacts probably cause such geology. And if so, could there be lifeforms in those cave systems?
Life, as we know it, is based on Carbon and in its most complex forms requires Oxygen. Anaerobic organisms also exist on Earth, but they are very simple organic forms, they are bacteria. Perhaps there is something similar on a burnt rock like Mercury, but I still have many reservations in thinking that there is something "alive" 
It's probably a captured rogue moon, or possibly the moon of Theia. But I did not know about the ring of dust. So if it's neighborhood has not been cleared, it may not qualify as a full fledged planet, similar to Pluto.
"It's probably a captured rogue moon, or possibly the moon of Theia". Based on what? Don't say "probably" unless you have enough evidence to make it probable.
Dumb question - if Mercury exists in an orbital pathway that isn't completely cleared out, wouldn't that DQ it as a Planet and downgrade it to Minor Planet like Pluto?
Pluto is a planet and I’ll fk anyone up at NASA over it. Who the fk are they to tell a mass rock wether they a planet or a dwarf?!!!! It ain’t right!!!! Planets can’t speak for themselves.
Pluto will always be a planet to me. Just because some late attendees at a science conference, where the majority of attendees had already left (including the most senior ones), doesn't get to change its status in my book.
1:40 "Mercury rotates very slowly around it's axis... 1 day on Earth would be 59 days on Mercury..." - I think the wording might be backwards there. This makes it sound like Mercury rotates very quickly. Also, "...that is, the day and night on the planet lasts for 3 months.." - I feel like 59 days is closer to 2 months.
So much of this is theoretical it's interesting that you presented as a fact. We don't even know about the core of this planet. How could we possibly know about Mercury
Wack me around the ears if I haven't got this correct. If mercury rotates slower than earth, wouldn't that mean that one day on mercury would be a greater number of days on eath, instead of the opposite as stated here? I don't mean to be a smart arse. Regardless though, I love this channel
@rightpath: Um, Mercury can get up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit (F), so how do you propose to protect yourself from that Temperature? And at night the Temp plummets to minus 210 F, so bring a warm blanket and winter underwear, LOL!
![Eminem - Temporary (feat. Skylar Grey) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZaK9Wi5ho0o/mqdefault.jpg)
Shout out to the camera man for being so brave
So the years are shorter but the days are longer. That's very fascinating!
A Mercury year is to the tune of a (Mercury) day and a half long. A Uranus day and - year are more or less the same, since Uranus has the same pole pointed at the sun at all times. How do you count days with now dawn?
I thought it was the opposite. One mercury day equals fifty nine earth days!
I thought mercury didn't spin u less you look at it
What a fascinating and well presented video, straight into facts and figures without any preamble. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to your voice explaining it in such an easy way to understand. Great visuals too. Thanks for sharing 😊
Lol ... they are showing moon all the time 😂😂😂
That's funny!! I wonder if I would have noticed if I hadn't read this comment!?! I was into the video for a few seconds when I started to read the comments! @@ioneeamigo8357
Also you
are
sogay
At about 1:37, you said, "One day on Earth would be 59 days on Mercury." I think you meant to say, "One day on Mercury is 59 Earth days long.", right?
Nope, he got it right. Mercury has about 1.5 days per year - it goes around the sun fast but has a slow personal rotation.
@@psycatnip Sorry to disagree, but it was stated wrong. During the course of 1 day on earth, Mercury does not see 59 days. Mercury sees a small fraction of a day during the course of 1 earth day.
@@psycatnip No. It was a reversal of fact by the narrator, as seantuohy suggested. One day on Mercury is equal to 59 Earth days. Which means a Mercury year is equal to one and a half Mercury days, roughly, or about 90 Earth days.
Yes, he reversed the figures, because one Mercury day is so slow, that, by the time it finishes one spin, Earth would have spun and spun and spun 59 times.
hah, that was the first thing i came to see in the comments, after i saw that part
THIS was so well done! Finally, a RUclips video that's well produced, presented and with good narration. Mercury is such a cool planet, and it's good to know that science seems to have a pretty good handle on it.
Nice video with a lot of information I didn't know about Mercury.
Also appreciate the use of both Traditional and Metric units for us non-STEM Americans who don't use SI all the time.
What is SI please?
It amuses me that the US uses old British Empire Imperial measurements for distances. And weights. I recall the South African comedian/commentator Trevor Noah becoming all US patriotic about it. Not connecting the word Imperial with Empire. He is very knowledgeable so I was surprised. The Polish physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit devised the Fahrenheit system of temperature measurement back in the 18th century. Anders Celsius followed with his system. (Tho' upside down). Britain used Fahrenheit until 1961/2. Weather forecasters used to give the temp in both versions. Later when we went decimal in 1970 they would say eg "tomorrow will be warm at 20°. In "old money" that's 60.
I looked up which countries use Fahrenheit the other day and it was rather....short. As in ridiculously short😟
It's interesting how little we've known about Mercury because of its position in the Solar system. I've learned alot from this video. Thanks 👍
We know absolutely nothing about it , these are all artist renditions , meaning their perception 😂😂 keep wishing
@@f87115 I know this is 2 months old, but I have to say: Someone didn't watch the video. If you had, you'd know that we had satellites scanning it, giving us all kinds of information on it. Artist's renditions are just there to help the average person visualize certain concepts, but some of those images are actual pictures. If you want to play idiocracy, that's your business.
@@f87115old comment im replying back to but you sound slow, we have satellites out there scanning it
Thanks for using the word "may" and "probably" in your explanations. I appreciate you reminding us that we didn't see what happened so we are making hypotheses that could explain what happened.
But he still uses the term "impact craters" like theres only one way craters can be formed, ignoring electrical science that proves craters can be formed via electrical discharge: particularly those hexagonal shaped craters with a pyramid type formation at the center.
@@sihop9220 yeah, those craters look like some spot welds I've seen, not to mention that mercury is relatively small compared to solar flares, so large voltages could actually cause much of the patterns you see with the surface. Also, electrical forces are 10^32 times more powerful than gravity...so we probably shouldn't ignore it. I will take what I can get on this but yeah "probably impact craters" would be better. I've had to aggressively teach my kids that much of what science says as "fact" is really based on "assumptions". some are better assumptions than others. but until we verify the assumptions as universal in time and space, we don't really know for sure.
Flerfs😂
That's called "Science".
Look up "The Scientific Method".
I really find your voice soothing. I clicked on the video because I do want to know but this narrative is out of this world. I am a subscriber now. Thank you very much, Sir.
Mercury looks more like a moon.
@@soggybread1577
Pluto is half the size of Mercury.
😅Pluto. Hmm. I was about to joke to be careful not to talk that Mercury doesn't seem to "rank" as a planet. That is, some astro physicist might decide it NOT Really a planet like happened to PLUTO.
I think it looks like Uranus...?
It could’ve been venus’s moon
@@brianfilemanalso arounf the same same as Titan and Ganymede, so yeah, can be
You lost me at protection from Supernova in the first minute. No, Mercury's magnetosphere would not protect itself from the Sun's supernova.
Your moms basement is a good protection from the super nova.
@@Filthy_Larry Ooohh... buuuurrn...
Grow up.
@@MontrealRides sorry. Your moms is the red giant. She stepped on the scale. This scares even Elon Musk.
I stopped watching when he said 59 days is 3 months.
I don't think he meant the Sun itself going supernova, but it wasn't elaborated on and could be incorrect anyway... there were clearly some errors in the script.
As a rock hound being in that dust ring collecting would be the highlight of my life! Goodness what things could be found!
Pretty sure if anyone visited Mercury and survived to tell about it, it would be the highlight of their life. What fucking difference does it make if you like to collect rocks? 🤣
The southern accent takes me back to science class in rural SC and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I love “Merkary”!
Thank you so very much. I really love the way that you present the science and break it down into manageable and understandable concepts. I love astronomy wanted to be an astronaut when I was younger, but yeah having an air problem so can’t do that and your voice is so relaxing. Thank you so much for taking the time to research this and share it with the rest of us. Big hugs and have an awesome day.
What a superb and pleasant narrator voice. The video is very didactic and easy to understand for non scientists like me. Just fascinating. Thank you!
Mercury is basically a big ball of iron with a thin veneer of rock.
The remnants of what was once a much larger planet, until a huge impact took most of the crust away.
An absolutely fantastically presented documentary....
Yes. And that larger planet with greater mass, must have orbited further away from the Sun. Leaving behind a large debris field - the asteroid belt.
We need to go get that iron
Extremely well produced video!! Thanks!
Not really, mistakes all over the place
@@roharbaconmoo Right?!! I'm only minute and 40 secs in, but: "one day on earth, would be 59 days on mercury".
That guy must have showed up for opposite day and gotten the memo a day early ;D
Amazing what we could do 50 years ago in space considering the technology we had then.
Yep, too bad they lost the data on how to go back to the moon, wink wink
@@Vaportrail56 and too bad they winged everything as they went to make it work and did not note changes down in the plans, so we cannot rebuild or recreate what they made.
Tinfoil hat and blanket anyone? 🤷♂️ 🤦♂️ 😂
@@Vaportrail56 We still know how to get to the moon. And since they discovered "water containing resources" they plan on going to the moon again.
When the worldwide priority is making money progress gets on hold
Am I thinking about this correctly? At about 1:40 minutes in it talks about how slowly Mercury rotates saying one day on Earth would 59 days on Mercury. Shouldn't that be the other way around? I'm thinking it means one Mercury day is about 59 Earth days.
greater gravity means slow rotatin no? as it will likely locked to the sun
@@failurestrings "...saying one day on Earth would [equal] 59 days on Mercury." So Mercury would then be spinning much faster than Earth spins which it doesn't, iirc. It probably should have been stated the other way around. It should be one Mercury rotation (day) happens in 59 days on Earth. It isn't locked with the sun. It has a 3:2 orbit resonance meaning that in Mercury time it rotated three times (3 days based on Mercury) per every 2 orbits around the sun (Mercury years). So a day on Mercury is longer than a year on Mercury.
Growing up in the early 70's and 80's I always thought that we would discover more interesting things about the planets we first saw as Boring and uninteresting. And this video and others like it have vindicated those thoughts. I wish my teachers were alive to see these. Thank you for posting!
OK! I am VERY wary about science based channels when it comes to the subject of outer space bodies because soo many are either monotonous or have a REALLY bad narrator. I think a good narrator is what can sell a doc. So in saying that I must say that this channel is SUPERB! Only 2minutes in I was mesmerized!
You got a new subber : ]
Funny that you mention two minutes, the point at which the narrator says that 59 days is three months...
Excellent information, clearly and engagingly presented. And none of the cringy jokes that mar so many other science and history videos. Well done.👍
You mean jokes like "why don't they just go at night"?
AI ruining it.scripts are terrible. History of earth history of universe is by far the goat
I crashed on mercury but learned how to make youtube videos. I left a content crater.
Thank you for a really good video on this smallest planet. I've been fascinated by it but there has been so little information on it in the public's eye!
Well there has not been a lot of info to put out there
Read books! or if printed pages are too much for you, then just Google it or RUclips it, there's loads of info at a screen press. Rmbr Mercury is the Winged Messenger, say no more..
On a clear night sky, you will see Mercury & Venus. Mercury is very bright & not like a star that twinkles but has a lightbulb intensity albeit very far away! Same with Venus, all you need is your eyes 👀, look up & stop walking!
Excellent production and narration. Very informative, thanks!
It must be cool to be one of the artists that does all these renderings for NASA. 🙌🏼
Thanks a lot for these precious informations - an astonishing work indeed!
Also of interest, quoting from the Wikipedia page on the planet Mercury: "Mercury orbits the Sun in a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance, meaning that relative to the background stars, it rotates on its axis exactly three times for every two revolutions it makes around the Sun.[a][21] Counterintuitively, due to Mercury's slow rotation, an observer on the planet would see only one Mercurian solar day (176 Earth days) every two Mercurian solar years (88 Earth days each).[4]" [See the Wikipedia article for the citation references.]
By contrast, Earth has a 24 hour solar day, but a full rotation of Earth relative to the background stars occurs in approximately 23 hours and 56 minutes.
Well done! Thanks for pointing that out 👍 🤘😁🖖🇨🇦
1:40 "One day on Earth would be 59 days on Mercury" ? The way I read this is that while a person on Earth experiences one day, "One day on Earth", a person on Mercurty experiences 59 days "would be 59 days on Mercury". That means Mercury is spinning aaround its axis 59 times faster than Earth? Which is not what you wanted to say.
"One day on earth would be 1/59th of a day on mercury," would be the correct way to say it.
Whew. I thought I was mispronouncing Mercury, but I checked online, and I wasn't wrong. It's very ironic that you say "tempertyure" and you don't say "Mercyury."
We're so used to science being explained to us in an upper-class English accent, hearing the same things in a thick American accent -- and not a neutral one but a Southern one like mine -- feels "off".
I really like the presentation of this video--the soft edges of the distinctly well-enunciated, gently southern (US) narrator's accent was very pleasing, and lends itself well to masterfully conveying educational content--as opposed to the "Zeus is speaking from his throne on Mt. Olympus to dumb mortals" melodrama often used, today...;) Very refreshing! (A small, but important distinction, imo.) From the comments, I can see that others noticed it as well, and were also similarly impressed. Educators take heed. It stands out for me and others because it is a presentational style not commonly seen/used these days (unfortunately!). Or, maybe it's just that I watch too many RUclips video clips that purport to be "scientific"!...;)
I noted only one very small but fairly major error in the entire presentation, and that is found in the beginning intro, where it is stated that Mercury's magnetic field is strong enough to deflect a supernova/e star flare...;) Uh, no...;) As noted in the entire presentation, some normally encountered solar-wind particles will be deflected by the field, but even the Earth's much stronger magnetic field would avail nothing in the event of a direct supernova flare hit from trusty old Sol! And in the event of such a supernova extinction event in our system, Mercury and possibly even Earth would be completely subsumed inside the expanding star itself in such a supernova. The damage would be terrific and permanent. Of course, since Mercury is a dead planet, it might emerge "unscathed" after the terminal flare subsides, but that has nothing to do with the magnetic field of Mercury! Hah, of course not. The statement in the intro was not repeated anywhere in the body of the video, hence it must have simply been a minor oversight.
Awesome info….Love astronomy and our solar system. How I wish I could have been a part of some of the scientific research and study of this and other things, it would have brightened my day, but it wasn’t meant to be. I’ve missed something special though and now I only get to see through the eyes of what others have accomplished within the work of the scientific field. This keeps us on our toes and helps to know that what we think we know is always changing and giving us new insights and into showing just how precious our plant Earth really is. HIGH 5….👍👍❤️❤️🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
I completely agree, and I feel exactly the same way you do! 🖖😁🤘🇨🇦
Let your hope not be lost, I am a backyard astronomer and a city dweller. Though life once allowed me to gaze at the stars when I was 4-20 years old.❤❤❤ Life will give you the chance May we give life a chance.
It’s tedious work, i do applied physics and the amount of variables in astronomy is boggling sometimes
Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there.
I think the narrator should have said that 1 day on Mercury is 59 days on earth. 😺
The pictures of the actual Scientists are the coolest thing about this Vid!. I am subscribing! GREAT job!
Thanks for using Imperial units of measurement with metric equivalents for those who need or want them. I understand the benefits of the metric system but it's nice to see things dimensioned in miles. Good job!
Most of the people on the planet (almost all) use METRIC.
No, MESSENGER did not create the first "real images" of Mercury. Mariner 10's photos were no less real than MESSENGER's, they just had a lower resolution.
I'm wonder if mercury and Venus having very slow rotation (backwards in Venus's case) means that they themselves collided. Or if there were just lots of protoplanets and what we see today are the last ones standing.
Planet X Dude. "Chariots of the Gods, man. They practically own South America. I mean, they taught the Incas everything they know".
The colors are so vibrant, it feels like I'm watching it live."
Really hoping, for this man’s views’ sake, that I’m the only one who initially can’t get over the way he /completely/ mispronounces “temperature” as “temp-you’re-ture”. ITS DRIVING ME CRAZY.
Awesome video ! I love it so much . Thank you for sharing . The Mercury looks like as our moon . Happy week-end to you !
I feel a bit sorry for Mercury tbh, it sounds like it's had a tough time
yes
Doesnt the dust ring mean Mercury hasn’t cleared it’s orbit? Isn’t that what made us downgrade Pluto to Dwarf Planet?
I believe, but could be wrong, that it was Pluto’s size that caused it to be downgraded. There are to many objects in the Oort Cloud that are similar size to Pluto, which would mean they could all qualify as planets.
@ConcreteLand there could then potentially under newly reviewed and defined requirements one day be dozens of uncharted new planets one day?
@@ConcreteLandno one has a right to classify Pluto as a dwarf.
I don't know this for sure but I suspect it would have to have a molten core to be considered a planet, hence why size comes into the equation; but composition and external forces would have to be accounted for making it difficult to tell
Different sources cite different criteria, such as pluto and charon orbiting around a point above pluto's surface. Meanwhile mercury has no moons.
if I had a toddler I would put this guys voice on to put them to sleep.
"FIRST REAL IMAGES OF MERCURY/" (Shows a CGI image) 🤣
if it has such a slow rotation, wouldn't it be "1 day on mercury is 59 days on earth" ? instead what was said in the video "1 day on earth is 56 days on mercury" ?
I'm confused, if Mercury rotates very slowly, how can 1 day on earth equal 59 days on Mercury? I would think is the exact opposite.
Thought the same thing, I think he just said it wrong. One day on Mercury is 59 earth days.
Ok, so imagine Mercury spinning around slowly and your friend has a stop watch, your friends on Earth, you watch Mercury spin and when the spot you first noticed comes around you know it's made a rotation....then you ask your friend "how long was that"...he hits the stop watch and says.." about 59 days."
very informative and done without any unnecessary hype thank you!
I helped almost a couple of years ago my daughter with researching for a school assignment and I noticed, then, that the same thing was said without verification. If the planet rotates extremely slow, how the heck one day on Earth, faster then, equates to 59 (??) on Mercury? It should be the other way around, if the planet revolves slowly, 59 days on Earth are one on Mercury. Am I missing something here or people just copy and paste information without even considering a bit about it? Thank you!
That is incorrect. NASA's website says that the equivalent of 1 earth day on Mercury is 1408 hours or 88.5 days.
@@patk3601 can you provide a link, please? Thank you!
With the 3:2 ratio of rotation, does this mean that Mercury is not tidally locked? Forgive my ignorance, but my physics knowledge is basic at the best of times, but I enjoy learning what I can. Thank you.
Great video. I learned a lot about the planet. It looks a lot like the moon.
Caloris is not an impact crater. Look at the rays, they don't line up with the center of the "crater," which would happen if it was a physical impact.
I had always thought that Mercury would be rich in heavy elements such as Uranium and Gold.
Why?
Seems that heavier elements would gravitate closer to the Sun during the greatest part of the accretion process.@@vladskiobi
A good video but "2.5x closer" isn't English or logical - multiplying by a number greater than 1 results in something bigger. We say things like "one-third the distance".
Love the video!
"MERK yury" not "MERK re". 3 syllables.
And temp ya ture. Instead of temperature
I love these videos do Uranus next...!!😊
Fascinating stuff. Also, I didn't know the planet's name was pronounced murcurry.
It's infuriating!
@@Mr.Plant_manit’s just a southern accent 😂. As a fellow southerner, northern or western accents are just as “infuriating” to us. We’re all “muricans” here.
Very interesting and very educational. Thank You
A lot of interesting information. I always thought of Mercury as just a rock like a moon or an asteroid more than a planet. I never knew there was so much more to it.
A nice steady commentary,- thank you.
Amazing images of Mercury in 4K..please post images of other planets also including Moon.
They will never give us the moon.
Never
Find your own images. It’s what search engines are for.
@@davidelliott5843 Probably easier to find than you're life.
Easier to find than you are life? What does that even mean?
I recently was gifted the picture called The Pale Blue Dot. Its so unbelievable that we are just that, in the bigger picture. Carl Sagan's words are so true.
The aphelion of Mercury is never in the same position relative to the stars and moves slowly. Scientists could not explain this. However, when Einstein's time dilation equations were applied, it accounted for the movement of Mercury's orbit within 1% accuracy. It was the first significant proof of special relativity.
It isn’t the “time dilation” which corrected for Mercury’s orbital progression, it was the gravitational equations in General Relativity (not Special Relativity) which accounted for it.
@@annasdad8008 My understanding is that general relativity describes the curvature of space which increases with increase in gravitational field. At Mercury's perihelion it is closest to the Sun and will experience a higher gravitational force, whereby the space time is more warped (although strictly gravity is not a force in general relativity), and as such it moves faster. This means, that Mercury takes less time to travel a distance compared to a stationary observer in space (i.e. astronomers on Earth). As a result, following perihelion it emerges in a different position in space, compared to that when applying Newtonian mechanics. The equation that accounts for this change in position comes from the time dilation equation, as applied to distance, and such is special relativity.
@@malcolmabram2957 Mercury's precession was one of ways that Einstein identified the right gravitational field equation. Every time he thought he found the right formulation, gave it to his PhD student to see if it predicted the precession right. After many failed attempts, he finally got a formula that worked. It has nothing to do with Special Relativity.
Thanks to you guys for digging in a little deeper to this topic. I am surprised the video's authors did not mention this special fact about Mercury's orbit.
Am I losing my mind?? He said 1 day on earth is 59 days on Mercury. Isn't it 59 days on earth is 1 day on Mercury?? Also 2.5 times closer??? What does that mean, shouldn't it be something like 1/3 the distance from the sun compared to Earth? Very weird explanations.
You're not losing your mind, "times less" or "times closer" makes no logical sense, but people say it anyway. Also the 59 days thing was flipped, I don't think the script was proofread.
The "Hollows" at 19:34 appear to have enormous sand dunes in the small hollow between the two much larger, upper depressions. The dunes look like the part of one underlying alluvial plane. These would be created by liquid most likely, or by complex winds. Liquid would be my guess, which came down from a cut in the large depression on top of it.
I'm thinking of going to Mercury for a holiday to work on my tan. Would you recommend sun lotion SPF 15+ ?
So well done and all free. Thanks so much to all involved. 46% oxygen really surprised me along with water and ice at its poles. It’s hard to believe that a species could be so intelligent and capable yet so flawed and harmful to itself. But nonetheless good people endeavor to achieve good things for all humanity.
Wtf are you talking about? Are you trying to say an alien species was on mercury or are you using Google translate?
@johnmichaels4330 huh? "So well done and free" as in, this took a lot of time and work to make but we get to see it for free. The species he's referring to is us. Intelligent enough to explore space and create the things we create, but still we kill eachother every day and let people starve to death and suffer from greed and all that. I don't know why you think it's translated poorly. Maybe you just read it too fast and missed some words.
@danm2084 ok, seems like he is writing in checklist form instead of narrative. That's what threw me off.
@@danm2084 The idea that conflict and progress aren't inextricably linked is wishful thinking. If we weren't killing each other then we wouldn't be in space either.
@bighoss1860 yeah its a very very complex topic.
Bepi Columbo's actual mission objectives: property assessment, evaluation of precious metals and water quantities, necessary for producing a reasonably accurate resource map for claimants who want to buy them now.
Has the feel of a video put together by some sort of bot programme feeding off a database of images and text sources. It's made quite a number of mistakes of understanding and logic. Uncorrected - hopefully the humans won't notice!!
Great vid, good grafics excellent narration, background music doesn't overpower the narro
Is it possible the crust on Mercury is littered with caves, or maybe rubble covered with dust? The lack of plate tectonics and meteor impacts probably cause such geology.
And if so, could there be lifeforms in those cave systems?
Life, as we know it, is based on Carbon and in its most complex forms requires Oxygen. Anaerobic organisms also exist on Earth, but they are very simple organic forms, they are bacteria. Perhaps there is something similar on a burnt rock like Mercury, but I still have many reservations in thinking that there is something "alive"

Thankyou for such well presented information about a rare interesting topic. Barton Salling
Merc-a-ree, really ?
Nice Pictures and information. Thank you for sharing. : )
Great Video :)
Wonderful and informative presentation. Well done.
Freddie Mercury
Mamaaaaaaaaaaa oooooooooooooooooh!
Using standard measurements got my sub. Thank you.
It's probably a captured rogue moon, or possibly the moon of Theia. But I did not know about the ring of dust. So if it's neighborhood has not been cleared, it may not qualify as a full fledged planet, similar to Pluto.
"It's probably a captured rogue moon, or possibly the moon of Theia".
Based on what? Don't say "probably" unless you have enough evidence to make it probable.
Don't turn away from possible futures before you're certain you don't have anything to learn from them.
Dumb question - if Mercury exists in an orbital pathway that isn't completely cleared out, wouldn't that DQ it as a Planet and downgrade it to Minor Planet like Pluto?
Pluto is a planet and I’ll fk anyone up at NASA over it. Who the fk are they to tell a mass rock wether they a planet or a dwarf?!!!! It ain’t right!!!! Planets can’t speak for themselves.
There are too many object in the Oort Cloud similar in size to Pluto. Which would mean they would all qualify as planets
Exactly the question I had.
Pluto will always be a planet to me. Just because some late attendees at a science conference, where the majority of attendees had already left (including the most senior ones), doesn't get to change its status in my book.
That would also disqualify Jupiter and Earth, both have co-orbital asteroids.
And I don't think we're about to disqualify Jupiter and Earth.
1:40 "Mercury rotates very slowly around it's axis... 1 day on Earth would be 59 days on Mercury..." - I think the wording might be backwards there. This makes it sound like Mercury rotates very quickly. Also, "...that is, the day and night on the planet lasts for 3 months.." - I feel like 59 days is closer to 2 months.
Narrated by Gomer Pyle.
I just love the way the guy says "temperature".
So much of this is theoretical it's interesting that you presented as a fact. We don't even know about the core of this planet. How could we possibly know about Mercury
I'm skeptical that we know much about the core of any planet, including Earth.
We must learn our limits. We are all something, but none of us are everything.
Mercury seems more like a stray moon without a planet.
That’s racist.
@@Filthy_Larry lol. Don't tell me you are astronomically woke.
@@Curt_Randall no. You are. Calling Pluto a dwarf when Pluto can kick your ass!! I’m betting in Pluto. Pluto is bigger than your house.
@@Filthy_Larry I can't believe this conversation is happening.
@@Curt_Randall oh it happening bud. Pluto’s is a planet. I’ll fight everyone at NASA over this. I fight for planets rights.
The first real artist rendition of Mercury 😂
Huh? Lots of real photographs of Mercury in this video.
@@joachimb5721 you missed it ,, right over the head
I find this type of videos really enjoyable, only one has to watch all those commercials that almost number the creators on Mercury!
Utterly engaging. Enjoyed immensely.
That orbital model was deceptive. It greatly exaggerates the oval.
It's not an oval. Kepler says it is an ellipse.
@@bingosunnoon9341 Well, yes, lazy wording on my part.
But my point stands.
The divergence from a circle is a tiny fraction of what they make it seem.
Does this mean mercury is not a planet, since it hasn’t cleared its orbital path?
Wack me around the ears if I haven't got this correct. If mercury rotates slower than earth, wouldn't that mean that one day on mercury would be a greater number of days on eath, instead of the opposite as stated here? I don't mean to be a smart arse. Regardless though, I love this channel
You are right. To me, it is a mistake.
Wow real photos never shown in video. Good job
Mercury is such a fascinating planet. It seems breathing will be possible there someday, since there is already a significant oxygen level there.
It’s significant compared to everything else in the atmosphere, but it’s still an extremely thin atmosphere. So probably not
Its a video full of CGI.
@@gb_the_accuser no way! 😱
@rightpath:
Um, Mercury can get up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit (F), so how do you propose to protect yourself from that Temperature?
And at night the Temp plummets to minus 210 F, so bring a warm blanket and winter underwear, LOL!
@@gb_the_accuser woah no way, you don't say.
THANKFUL for rousing information video so for more knowing and knowlidge about our one of the planet's - MERCURY / Ruteren Iren.
It never amazes me what GOD has created!
It amazes me how god is not seen anywhere.
In only 6,000 years to boot!
Mental illness or troll? The world may never know.
It never amazes you? As in, you are never amazed by what sky daddy made?
I've always wanted to know more about Mercury and Venus
I think i forgot my charger the last time i visited Mercury.
Bro the same thing happened to me when I went to Venus
@@mr.nobody3248 we need universal chargers.
I think most of us can agree that mercury is not the most interesting planet
When doing a piece on Mercury, maybe find a narrator who can pronounce "Mercury" ...and "temperature."
Or we could stop mocking people's accents.