Talk:Mercury (planet)

Lead image

Hey everyone, someone put up a true colour infobox image and was reverted because there was no discussion... well here is the discussion.

I favour a true colour image, since thats how people would see Mercury.  @Creativecomparisons1750:@FlightTime Phone: Nsae Comp (talk) 21:45, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

Nsae Comp (talk) 21:48, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

Changing it to true/visible colour image (current has infrared spectrum, see description). Nsae Comp (talk) 03:51, 17 June 2021 (UTC)

Adding "hermean" as adjective

Hermean is also commonly used as an adjective to refer to Mercury, and should thus be added to the current list. Examples for the use of Hermean are:

Etymologically, it originates from the Greek equivalent to the Roman Mercurius: Hermes.

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 10:40, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

References

Semi-protected edit request on 25 July 2021

I suggest editing the intro where tidal locking is discussed, stating "Mercury is not tidally locked, though it was previously thought to be. The planet orbits the sun at a 3:2 ratio due to orbital resonance." https://scopethegalaxy.com/is-mercury-tidally-locked/ Clairealexandra (talk) 17:05, 25 July 2021 (UTC)

Oppose: The supplied source for this opinion doesn't appear to be particularly reliable.[1] Praemonitus (talk) 17:32, 25 July 2021 (UTC)

Is the section on spin-orbit resonance consistent?

The section on spin-orbit resonance first says that the 3:2 resonance is stable only because of the eccentricity of the orbit but then goes on to say that the orbit varies between being eccentric and being nearly circular. It doesn't address the obvious question of what happens to the 3:2 resonance while the orbit is circular. I could imagine that the tidal effects on the period of revolution have a longer time scale than the fluctuations in the eccentricity, so that the orbit is already back to being sufficiently eccentric before the resonance is lost, but this should perhaps be addressed. Joriki (talk) 08:25, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

If the orbit of Mercury were to become permanently circularized, then over geologic time scales the resonance can chaotically destabilize and converge on a 1:1 lock. With the current eccentricity, the planet is more likely to converge on a 3:2 lock.

"Correia & Laskar (2004) pointed out that Mercury’s eccentricity has varied chaotically during its long dynamical evolution in the Solar system. The current state of Mercury, entrapped in the 3:2 spin-orbit resonance, is the result of a long history of tidal and orbital interactions, probably marked by multiple passages of spin-orbit resonances. In particular, if the initial spin rate of Mercury was much greater than it is today, the planet has successfully traversed a number of higher resonances."[2]

Praemonitus (talk) 17:02, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

Percentage of water in planets

What is the percentage of water in Mercury. What is the percentage of water in Venus. What is the percentage of water in Earth. What is the percentage of water in Mars. What is the percentage of water in Jupiter. What is the percentage of water in Saturn. What is the percentage of water in Uranus. What is the percentage of water in Neptune. 2409:4051:4E92:6433:0:0:FC8:C214 (talk) 10:32, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

Even on Earth, water is just going to be a trace amount: 0.12% of the total volume. Praemonitus (talk) 15:00, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

Habitability

The section, as it stands right now, is just a stub of a section and shouldn't be included in a featured article, not in its current form at least. Just 2 paragraps of a single line each. However, the NASA article does not say much more than what I already added (it's a summary of key details about Mercury). The NIH reference is only a single sentence within an article about Mercury's topography. I can't access the NYT article because i reached my limit of free articles, can someone check if it has content useful to expand this section?

The issue of Mercury's habitability (or lack thereof) may still be noteworthy enough to be mentioned, but if there is no information to it to create a full section, it should be moved elsewhere in the article. Cambalachero (talk) 03:43, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

It's appropriate to at least mention it. I suggest a merger with the "Surface conditions and exosphere" section. Praemonitus (talk) 14:19, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 2 October 2022

When speaking about the large diurnal temperature variations on Mercury, change from 'X' to 'Y': X is "ranging from 100 K (-173 C; -280 F) at night to 700 K (427 C; 800 F) during the day across the equatorial regions" TO 'Y': Y is "ranging from 700 K (427 C; 800 F) during the day across the equatorial regions, to 100 K (-173 C; -280 F) at night." The reason for this request is that in scientific astronomy, the planet Mercury is known to be extremely hot 'overall,' as well as the closest planet to the sun. Despite newer knowledge; that the dark "night" side is frigid due to the lack of sunlight combined with extremely little atmosphere, the "predominant" (and primary) temperature feature profile of Mercury has always been its Vulcan heat, and its closeness to the sun: therefore, the sunlit day side temperature should be noted "first" as a proper, respectful acknowledgement of priority, with the cold nights being of secondary priority. Otherwise, there is nothing technically wrong here, but a properly ordered discussion of scientific priorities must be considered. Thankyou.174.4.42.149 (talk) 10:05, 2 October 2022 (UTC) 174.4.42.149 (talk) 10:05, 2 October 2022 (UTC)