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Mercury - Blog Posts
Yeah, Mercury did kinda kick Newton in the balls, didn’t it?
Guess that’s why it’s my favorite planet
WANT MORE? GET YOUR HEAD STUCK IN THE STARS AT MY BLOG!
Ah yes, the science
Better late than never!
This week’s entry: Meet Mercury
http://www.space.com/36-mercury-the-suns-closest-planetary-neighbor.html
This Day in NASA History: February 10, 1959
On this day, 1959, wind tunnel tests of Project Mercury configuration models were started.
By the end of the year, over 70 different models had been tested by facilities at the Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center and the NASA Langley, Ames, and Lewis Research Centers.
Here at NASA Langley Research Center, a lot of those tests took place in our 7 X 10-Foot High Speed Tunnel (pictured above).
Some tests also took place in our 20-Foot Vertical Spin Tunnel.
How Well Do You Know Mercury?
Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system and is only slightly larger than Earth’s moon. To give you some perspective, if the sun were as tall as a typical front door, Earth would be the size of a nickel and Mercury would be about as big as a green pea.
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Daytime temperatures can reach 430 degrees Celsius (800 degrees Fahrenheit) and drop to –180 degrees Celsius (-290 degrees Fahrenheit) at night.
Here are a few fun facts about Mercury:
Mercury takes only 88 Earth days to orbit the sun
If we could stand on Mercury’s surface when it is at its closest point to the sun, the sun would appear more than three times larger than it does here on Earth
Mercury is home to one of the largest impact basins in the solar system: the Caloris Basin. The diameter of this impact basin is the length of 16,404 football fields (minus the end zones) placed end to end!
Mercury is one of only two planets in our solar system that do not have moons (Venus is the other one)
Mercury completes three rotations for every two orbits around the sun. That means that if you wanted to stay up from sunrise to sunrise on Mercury, you’d be up for 176 Earth days…you’d need a LOT of coffee!
Two missions have visited Mercury:
Mariner 10 was the first mission to Mercury, and 30 years later, our MESSENGER mission was the second to visit the planet. Mariner 10 was also the first spacecraft to reach one planet by using the gravity of another planet (in this case, Venus) to alter its speed and trajectory.
MESSENGER was the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, The spacecraft had its own shades to protect it from the light of the sun. This is important since sunlight on Mercury can be as much as 11 times brighter than it is here on Earth. The spacecraft was originally planned to orbit Mercury for one year, but exceeded expectations and worked for over four years capturing extensive data. On April 30, 2015, the spacecraft succumbed to the pull of solar gravity and impacted Mercury’s surface.
Water Ice?
The MESSENGER spacecraft observed compelling support for the long-held hypothesis that Mercury harbors abundant water ice and other frozen volatile materials in its permanently shadowed polar craters.
This radar image of Mercury’s north polar region. The areas shown in red were captured by MESSENGER, compared to the yellow deposits imaged by Earth-based radar. These areas are believed to consist of water ice.
Mercury Transit of the Sun
For more than seven hours on Monday, May 9, Mercury will be visible as a tiny black dot crossing the face of the sun. This rare event – which happens only slightly more than once a decade – is called a transit.
Where: Skywatchers in Western Europe, South America and eastern North America will be able to see the entirety of the transit. The entire 7.5-hour path across the sun will be visible across the Eastern U.S. – with magnification and proper solar filters – while those in the West can observe the transit in progress at sunrise.
Watch: We will stream a live program on NASA TV and the agency’s Facebook page from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. – an informal roundtable during which experts representing planetary, heliophysics and astrophysics will discuss the science behind the Mercury transit. Viewers can ask questions via Facebook and Twitter using #AskNASA. Unlike the 2012 Venus transit of the sun, Mercury is too small to be visible without magnification from a telescope or high-powered binoculars. Both must have safe solar filters made of specially-coated glass or Mylar; you can never look directly at the sun.
To learn more about our solar system and the planets, visit: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
Mercury In the Spotlight
For more than seven hours on Monday, May 9, Mercury will be visible as a tiny black dot crossing the face of the sun. This rare event – which happens only slightly more than once a decade – is called a transit.
Although Mercury whips around the sun every 88 days – over four times faster than Earth – the three bodies rarely align. Because Mercury orbits in a plane 7 degrees tilted from Earth’s orbit, it usually darts above or below our line of sight to the sun. As a result, a Mercury transit happens only about 13 times a century. The last one was in 2006, and the next one isn’t until 2019.
When: On May 9, shortly after 7:00 a.m. EDT, Mercury will appear as a tiny black dot against a blazing backdrop, traversing the sun’s disk over seven and a half hours. Mercury will cross the edge of the sun (ingress) after 7:00 a.m. EDT. The mid-transit point will occur a little after 10:45 a.m. EDT, with egress around 2:30 p.m. EDT.
Where: Skywatchers in Western Europe, South America and eastern North America will be able to see the entirety of the transit. The entire 7.5-hour path across the sun will be visible across the Eastern U.S. – with magnification and proper solar filters – while those in the West can observe the transit in progress at sunrise.
Safety!
Unlike the 2012 Venus transit of the sun, Mercury is too small to be visible without magnification from a telescope or high-powered binoculars. Both must have safe solar filters made of specially-coated glass or Mylar; you can never look directly at the sun. We’re offering several avenues for the public to view the event without specialized and costly equipment, including images on NASA.gov, a one-hour NASA Television special, and social media coverage.
The Science…Why are Planetary Transits Important?
Transits like this allowed scientists in the 17th century to make the first estimates of Earth’s distance from the sun. Transit observations over the past few centuries have also helped scientists study everything from the atmosphere of Venus to the slight shifts in Mercury’s orbit that could only be explained by the theory of general relativity. Because we know Mercury’s size and location precisely, this transit will help scientists calibrate telescopes on solar observatories SDO, SOHO, and Hinode.
Transits can also teach us more about planets – both in and out of our solar system. The Venus transit in 2012 provided observations of the planet’s atmosphere. Transits are also the main way we find planets outside the solar system, called exoplanets.
The transit method looks for a drop in the brightness of a star when a planet passes in front of it. This method will not find every planet – only those that happen to cross our line of sight from Earth to the star. But with enough sensitivity, the transit method through continuous monitoring is a great way to detect small, Earth-size planets, and has the advantage of giving us both the planet’s size (from the fraction of starlight blocked), as well as its orbit (from the period between transits). Our Kepler/K2 mission uses this method to find exoplanets, as will the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellites, or TESS, following its launch in 2017/2018.
We will stream a live program on NASA TV and the agency’s Facebook page from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. – an informal roundtable during which experts representing planetary, heliophysics and astrophysics will discuss the science behind the Mercury transit. Viewers can ask questions via Facebook and Twitter using #AskNASA.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
Mercury passing the sun May 9th 2016
On Monday, May 9, the planet Mercury wandered directly in front of the sun, a rare “transit” that only happens about 12 times a century.
Itty bitty Mercury transits the Sun. It was a terribly cloudy morning with really poor seeing, but managed to snap this.
Miorine rembran
God I haven't been able to draw anything these past few months, life keeps uppercutting me with reality checks left and right. Glad I'm able to doodle more player 2 au.
Nothing too special, honestly it's just more redraws of X and Zero but with Rock and Roll in their place.
The more and more I draw, the more I can't help but imagine this story and what this version of Megaman and Roll can do.
Here's some extra doodles I might do digitally under the cut
WOOOOOOOO!!!!
It's Megaman's birthday today and y'know what I decided to do?
Make a post about my au about Roll. XD
Well, sort of.
Fr though, I really do love the Megaman franchise. It's one of the main reasons I draw today and want to get better at story telling. I honestly would've made a full drawing instead of a handful of doodles, but life gets busy and I need my sleep.
Anyways, last time I posted I showed you guys this design I came up with for Roll's armor.
This time though, I wanna talk a bit more about Rock's part in the au because despite what I say, he is still a main character in the au.
Doodles under the cut.
First I had to get a good grasp on who Rock is as a character before figuring out what he'd be like in the au. Canonically, he's a kind, courageous boy, with a strong sense for justice and is very polite towards others but is a little naive.
With that in mind I think he'd largely be the same in the au, only difference being he's more protective of Roll and does his best to be the responsible one. However being responsible does mean he's a rule follower, it makes Rock feel guilty.
Despite the new protective streak though, Rock definitely knows Roll's willingness to wreck Wily's newest machines like there's no tomorrow, which does worry him a bit, but he's very glad she's on his side.
This actually brings up a theme I want to incorporate: opposites complimenting each other.
Rock truly believes in Dr. Light's dream and wants it to become reality, on the flipside, Roll's more concerned with things happening in the moment. Rock absolutely hates fighting, Roll finds it fun. Rock is more quick to accept obstacles as they are, meanwhile Roll always looks for another way.
That last thing actually leads me to bringing up an old concept from an entirely different au. Because Roll always looks for another solution, what if she managed to befriend some of the bosses from some of the games?
Rock wants to stop fighting and actively tries to dissuade the robots he fights, but accepts it as inevitable because he doesn't see another option. Roll however is more empathic to other robots issues and unlike Rock is too stubborn to give up on finding a different way. Through her empathy, Roll may be able to dissuade robots from fighting by reaching out a helping hand.
Obviously, this doesn't work for every robot master, but it will work for some, and it's this that gives Rock hope throughout the many battles he and Roll find themselves in.
It's the main reason he keeps putting the armor back on when Wily comes back with another plot. As long as Rock has Roll to fight alongside, there will always be another way. Maybe one of those ways will lead to the peace they both want.
That's just Rock for now, there's still even more to think of. Like Protoman.
Much like Rock, Protoman is largely unchanged with the only difference being that he is more willing to show up and spend time with Rock and Roll in a mentor sort of role.
This is because with both of them in active fighting roles, they're gonna need some training. This happens after the twins beat Wily as a team for the first time, so before or after MM3. Blues helps Rock with aim and difficult jumps, while he helps Roll come up with new ways to use her broom. They all also do team exercises so they can fight more effectively, but they don't always accomplish their goals. Blues is a tough teacher and the twins ended up running back to Light Labs after one of them collapsed during training.
They were so freaked out after the first few times it happened. One time they both passed out during training, dw Blues carried them home as a good big brother should.
There's still more to think of with this au. I have a lot in mind, including merging this au with that Megaman X au I've been thinking about. Y'all will probably know which one it is, I have very few au's here.
Overall, Rock and Roll both want peace between humans and robots, they just have different mindsets that influence how they go about it individually. That's why I think it's so important that they fight together.
With that said enjoy this final doodle of Megaman and Sunstar. I like to think that Rock, with Roll and Rush's support, managed to find a way to save Sunstar in this au and the two became buddies.
Sunstar really likes his little friend, but not nearly as much as Mercury likes Roll
She's his favorite.
Height chart since the height of planets r way too fucking big to count!!!
MERCURY IS FINALLY DONE YAHOOEY!!! I’m gonna design some of the solarballs robots/humans as a lil treat soon !!! Thank u for stating w me in this journey
She reminds me of Sailor Mercury 🌧
And I made her wear her jacket, I think it suits her well.
The redesign of Ronnie is taking a bit longer than I thought it would 😔 but it’s ok!!!! Here’s an old draw the squad I did! So my account doesn’t look dead!! :3
You know, comedy acts aren’t the only things to see in a circus!
Meet Mercury! The Spectacle’s Most Masterfully Magnificent and Marvelous Magician!!
Guys can you tell I don’t know how to draw backgrounds? What’s even happening behind him??? Anyway, more about him under the cut🪄*ੈ✩‧₊˚
I know I kinda played up how amazing he is, but it’s only because that’s how he’d describe himself!! Mercury is very confidant and can sometimes come off as egotistical (which he is). He reeaallyy likes himself and his fantastic act! He just wishes everyone else saw it the way he does, but alas; they’d rather focus on their silly jokes and gags. But no bother! He knows his show is much too sophisticated for them to truly appreciate anyway! (He’s a meanie and I love him)
Rejoice! For onto you I bestow a very high effort quality art piece! For hours I worked diligently with nothing but my own passion and dedication to sustain me! I’ll probably be back tomorrow to show Mercury’s best friend! He’s a dog!
‘Ghost fleas’ bring toxic mercury up from the depths of prairie lakes
How toxic mercury moves through the environment—and accumulates in the fish that people eat—has been known for decades. Now, scientists have discovered an unexpected way that the neurotoxin circulates in lakes, hitching a late-night ride inside small predatory crustaceans dubbed “ghost fleas.” The finding helps explain why some lake fish contain surprising amounts of mercury. It also suggests researchers who sample lakes only during the day might be missing important clues to how those ecosystems work.
✨ SOLARCARDS ✨
I’ve spent a whole month drawing this and finally it’s done! :D
✨ PLANETS ✨
I finally made humanizations for all 8 of them and I’m actually happy with the result 🎉
It took me so much time man…
Now I want to put some close-ups:
And the full version with the names:
