8A50.10 - Mercury

Code Number:
8A50.10
Demo Title:
Mercury
Condition:
Good
Principle:
Planets of the Solar System
Area of Study:
Solar System
Equipment:
Mercury globes, Video tapes and images from exploratory missions to Mercury.
Procedure:

Choose the videotape or web images that best fit your presentation.

The 2014 Mercury globe has been made from 16,000 image frames from the Messenger spacecraft which imaged the whole planet.

The Astronomy magazine Mercury globe was produced using images from the Mercury Dual Imaging System abord the Messenger spacecraft.  

The old Mercury globe (reddish colored one)  is made from images of just 1/2 of the planet that has been doubled to cover the whole globe.

References:
  • John L. Roeder, "Dance Lessons", TPT, Vol. 31, # 3, Mar. 1993, p. 132.
  • John L. Roeder, "Astrodances", TPT, Vol. 30, # 6, Sept. 1992, p. 384.
  • Maurice Bruce Stewart, "The Orbit of Mercury", TPT, Vol. 29, # 6, June 1991, p. 346.
  • Jay Pasachoff, "This Month's Cover...", TPT, Vol. 55, #3, March 2017, p. 129.
  • Jay M. Pasachoff, "Using the 2016 Transit of Mercury to Find the Distance to the Sun", TPT, Vol. 55, March 2017, p. 137-141.
  • Alex Alaniz, "A Simple Special Relativistic Perturbation Scheme for Yielding the General Relativistic Behavior of Point Particles and Photons in the Gravitational Field of Stars", AJP, Vol. 70, # 5, May 2002, p. 498.
  • Kevin G. Suffern, "Where the Sun Never Sets: Solar Insolation at the Poles of Mercury", AJP, Vol. 60, #11, Nov. 1992, p. 1040.
  • Ashley G. Smart, "Model Dynamo May Solve Mercury Mystery", Physics Today, August 2014, p. 14.
  • NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington, Front Cover Photo, Physics Today, Jan. 2011.
  • Sean C. Solomon, "A New Look at the Planet Mercury", Physics Today, p. 50, Jan. 2011.
  • Johanna Miller, "Radar Reveals Mercury's Molten Core", Physics Today, p. 22, July 2007.
  • "Sunlit Side of the Planet Mercury", Ad Astra, Spring 2014, p. 4.
  • Sky and Telescope's Information of Mercury Globe, 2014.
  • Janice VanCleave,  "Planet Facts and Figures",  A+ Projects in Astronomy, p. 193.
  • Stephen L. Gillett,  "Inward Ho!",  Analog Science Fiction/ Science Fact,  p. 62.

Disclaimer: These demonstrations are provided only for illustrative use by persons affiliated with The University of Iowa and only under the direction of a trained instructor or physicist.  The University of Iowa is not responsible for demonstrations performed by those using their own equipment or who choose to use this reference material for their own purpose.  The demonstrations included here are within the public domain and can be found in materials contained in libraries, bookstores, and through electronic sources.  Performing all or any portion of any of these demonstrations, with or without revisions not depicted here entails inherent risks.  These risks include, without limitation, bodily injury (and possibly death), including risks to health that may be temporary or permanent and that may exacerbate a pre-existing medical condition; and property loss or damage.  Anyone performing any part of these demonstrations, even with revisions, knowingly and voluntarily assumes all risks associated with them.