We’re in a bit of a lull with Mercury right now; the MESSENGER probe passed it a few months ago, and it’ll be a little while before it makes pass #2. In the meantime, though, you can watch a video I made about the planet and the probe for SpaceRip, part of the high-res video series I’ve been doing with professional director/producer Tom Lucas.
For American viewers, it’s also up on Hulu, and it’s available through Joost as well. I think this is the best one we’ve done so far. We filmed it at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in their Gates Planetarium. If you happen to be in the Denver area, drop by and show them some love; they’re good folks.
The other videos in the series so far are Saturn: Lord of the Rings, Black Hole Death Rays, The Changing Face of Mars, and Cookbook of Galactic Cannibalism.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Phil, nice video, but when you say the temperature of Mercury is 700 degrees, what’s that in real money? (Approx. 300C, if anyone asks.) You Yanks are the only people still clinging to Imperial measures; therest ofthe world’s gone metric. Do you think you could mention both in your future videos?
Oh, and in a similar vein, “impact” is a noun, not a verb… (But then, I’m only saying this to annoy you in the hope that PZ will pay me for doing so…)
August 25th, 2008 at 9:27 am
another great video Phil, I hope Skeptologists gets picked up so we can see more of you doing educational vids
August 25th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Awesome video Phil. Your enthusiasm is contagious! Thank you. Keep up the stellar work!
August 25th, 2008 at 10:33 am
@ kimpatsu, Phil always uses both units that video since is made for an US ev, I guess he is “forced” to use Imperial Units.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:36 am
But where are the chariots?
/ɪmˈpækt/ (notice the stress): to have impact or make contact forcefully: The ball impacted against the bat with a loud noise.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I thought I read somewhere recently that Mercury had a tenuous atmosphere. Is that correct?
August 25th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Great video.I love these.They are really informative and just the right length to engage my science hungry kids ( and me too) Keep ‘em coming. You rock Phil!
August 25th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Um, that gray object next to the Earth is actually our Moon. Mariner 10 took a few photos of it on its way to Mercury. Although seen from an unusual point of view (north pole) you can see a few of its maria. Mercury has none.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Apparently Mercury does have a very very tenuous atmosphere. The pressure is supposed to be a frackteenth that of earths.
And Phil, I’ve been off the tubes for a few weeks and have just heard via the SGU that you are the new President of the PPEF (formerly the JREF). Belated congratulations!!
August 25th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Yeah, I’d prefer metric, of course — I use it on the blog first, you’ll note — but these are designed primarily for American audiences.
Thanks for the positive comments!
August 25th, 2008 at 11:09 am
I too am one that is hoping fervently that Skeptologists gets picked up! If nothing else but to see folks actually drink wheatgrass juice!
August 25th, 2008 at 11:35 am
I recall reading years ago, perhaps in a book of Bonestell paintings annotated by Arthur C. Clarke, that if you could stand on certain places on Mercury, the sun would behave oddly, rising then setting then rising again but I haven’t found this description thus far.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:36 am
August 25th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Excellent video
August 25th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
“Wall to wall” craters? Shouldn’t that be “crater to crater craters”
J/P=?
August 25th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Why is it that Phil looks like he’s gonna disloacte his jaw when he gets excited about SCIENCE? It’s like his mouth cannot move fast enough to deliver his SCIENCE CONTENET OF….SCIENCE!
August 25th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I’m shaking my head in disbelief. When will Americans realise that there are more people in this world than just themselves and that the rest of us actually have running water, electricity, and even internet connections?
FYI it’s called the WORLD Wide Web for a reason.
I guess the US will eventually move into the 21st C., kicking and screaming all the way, round about the year 2100…
[dons flame-proof suit]
August 25th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
He DID embed the youtube version available for everyone first, and then linked to the US-only versions. That’s great in my book.
But yeah, at least subtitles with the metric values would help in two ways – it would be easier for the other 6.5 billion people to understand them, and it would little by little show the united statians that, well, their metrics suck.
August 25th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Anyone who visits this site (including it’s owner) knows that the U.S. measurement system is behind the times, but the fact is, it’s still official in the U.S. Until that offically changes and since Phil is a U.S. citizen making a U.S. based movie about a U.S. probe to Mercury, I think you should cut him some slack.
Just be glad it’s not in Kelvin.
August 25th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
*Note to self. Don’t press submit to review comments*
I also wanted to say, “Well done Phil!” This is the kinda stuff everyone needs to see and hear about space science.
And as for his enunciation, I think it’s cool. Having a host of any science program get as excited about what they’re talking about as Phil does, well, that just gets everyone watching excited too.
*Now press submit*
August 25th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Although I can’t rule out bias on my part (do research on planetary magnetic fields), I think the coolest bit of Mercury is its interior. If you do thermal evolution models it should have frozen solid a while ago (due to its small radius it has a high surface area to volume ratio), but Mariner detected a magnetic field too strong to be explained by crustal rocks (as in Mars), or induction effects with the atmosphere (Venus).
The final explanation is an active dynamo (the same way Earth, Jupiter, Ganymede, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus get magnetic fields). Essentially conducting fluid moves in complex enough motions to regenerate a magnetic field against resistive decay. Despite being the right answer (probably) there are two problems with the dynamo hypothesis
a) Mercury should have been frozen solid by now, you need liquid conductors for a dynamo
b) The magnetic field, while strong for crustal magnetism, is weak for a dynamo (1/100th that of Earth)
We can get around (a) by assuming there is a bit of sulphur (or some light element) in the core which would depress the freezing point of iron in the core and allow a little to remain liquid.
(b) is harder, there are a few theories from thin shell models (there is a really thin layer of conducting fluid) to thick shell models with a giant stable layer at the top of the core (a region that is resistive to moving at all).
Anyways, everyone in the planetary magnetism community is anxiously awaiting the time when MESSENGER will orbit, so we can resolve features of the magnetic field and make better models.
August 25th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Oh yeah, great job on the video though!
You just need to balance it off with some dynamo theory
August 25th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Haven’t found it on Joost yet. Would be nice.
August 25th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
” You Yanks are the only people still clinging to Imperial measures; therest ofthe world’s gone metric.”
If that’s true, then why do they use Imperial measures on “Doctor Who”?
When the 9th doctor describes the Earth’s movement to Rose, he uses “miles per hour” in his description.
@Chip,
The description you mention of the sunrise and sunset on Mercury can be seen on the website “The Nine Planets” (the maker of the site didn’t bother to change the URL to reflect what the IAU says).
The effects are caused by changes of Mercury’s velocity around the sun and the speed of it’s rotation, IIRC. It moves faster on it’s closest approach so much that the sun appears to set again. When Mercury moves away, the rotation catches up.
August 25th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Grand Lunar Says: “The description you mention of the sunrise and sunset on Mercury can be seen on the website “The Nine Planets”…”
Thanks!…………………………Thanks!
……………….Thanks………………………………Much appreciated………..will check it out.
August 25th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
“If that’s true, then why do they use Imperial measures on “Doctor Who”?”
Wikipedia: “The United Kingdom completed its legal transition to SI units in 1995, but a few imperial units are still in official use: draught beer must be sold in pints, road-sign distances must be in yards and miles, clearance heights must be in feet and inches (although an equivalent in metres may be shown as well) and speed limits must be in miles per hour”
At least they started the process somewhere. Still going to take a while to sink in, sure.
August 25th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Kimpatsu:
Actually, it is 371.111 °C: [°C] = ([°F] – 32) / 1.8
Yeah, I know — THANK YOU MR. SPOCK!
August 25th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
ADDENDUM: Actually, Dr. Phil Plait stated that the temperature of Mercury is 800 °F, so the Celsius equivalent is 426.667 °C.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Kimpatsu:
Au contraire, mon frére. “Impact” is both a noun and a verb: http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/impact?view=uk
August 25th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
On doit écrire “mon frère” (accent grave), je crois…
And I don’t care what you trendy people say. “access” and “impact” are nouns, as Calvin and Hobbes well knew…
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:06 pm
[...] By the way, if you want to know more about Mercury and MESSENGER, I made a video about it that is up on YouTube. [...]