![]() ![]() Mercury's orbit is elongated, taking an almost oval- or egg-shaped course around the Sun. Venus's dense atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect, resulting in higher temperatures. Intense changes in temperature from day to night make it impossible for life as we know it to flourish on Mercury.Īlthough it is the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury isn't the hottest in the solar system. The side facing away cools to an approximate -180☌.īut despite the intense heat the planet faces as it rotates, areas that are permanently shaded, such as some polar craters, may hold deposits of ice. Without a substantial atmosphere to distribute heat away from the areas facing the Sun, the planet's slow rotation makes for stark differences in temperature between its dark and light sides. Mercury's sun-facing side is scorched by temperatures of around 430☌, hot enough to melt lead. Mercury is about 2.6 times smaller than Earth. Its radius, the distance from the core's centre to the surface, is 2,440 kilometres. Scientists believe this is what happened to Venus many billions of years ago, and it’s the reason why Venus does not have any moons today.Mercury is slightly larger than our Moon - 15,329 kilometres around its equator. Once the moon is close enough, the planet's gravitational pull rips it apart, and the debris comes crashing down. Instead, the planet absorbs the orbital energy of its moon, gradually causing the moon to fall towards the planet. However, if a planet rotates in the opposite direction of its moon’s orbit, the planet no longer transfers energy to its moon. This same process occurs with Earth’s moon, wherein the Earth’s rotation gradually slows down, and the moon moves further away. During its original orientation, Venus gradually transferred some of its rotational energy to its moon, causing it to drift further away slowly. It may not seem significant that Venus began turning in the opposite direction, but the rotation profoundly impacted its moon. The second planet collided with Venus opposite its rotation, causing Venus to start rotating the other way. ![]() The first collision resulted in the formation of a moon in orbit around Venus. Scientists believe that Venus experienced two planetary collisions. Like the Earth, Venus had undergone some catastrophic collisions with other planets. ![]() Scientists believe this is how Earth’s moon formed billions of years ago. Instead of breaking apart, debris would be ejected into orbit and coalesce to form a moon. However, if a planet got lucky, the collision would occur under the right conditions. In some cases, the collisions would have destroyed the colliding worlds. Collisions between planets would have been common. Although our solar system contains eight planets today, there were likely hundreds shortly after the formation of the Sun. Shortly after the planets formed, they underwent a period of bombardment. In fact, it is generally accepted that Venus did have a moon at one point in its history. However, it is still possible for Venus to hold onto one or more moons. However, Venus is still significantly closer to the Sun than Earth, and the gravitational pull of the Sun would make it difficult for any moons to remain in orbit. At 80% of the mass of the Earth, Venus’ gravitational field would be more than strong enough to hold onto any moons. Venus is more complicated than Mercury due to the fact that Venus is far larger. Why Doesn’t Venus Have Any Moons? Venus, the Second Furthest Planet from the Sun ![]()
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