Something about the surface of Mercury just feels so despondent. Unlike the other planets, it's just completely dead. Still. No windstorms, no aurora, just miles of barren grey rock, stretching both back into the past and forward into the future for what is essentially an eternity. Even on the Moon there's at least the Earth in the sky and occasional eclipses; but Mercury's only constant companion is the near-static Sun that super-heats its surface, the same entity that will eventually cause its end. It's just baffling that such a large celestial object; a so-called heavenly body, could be so... quiet.
It's a bit odd how the Sun seems smaller than I expected from Mercury's surface. Oh sure it's definitely bigger, but from all the other photos and models of Mercury I would have expected it to take up half the sky or something. That's what always fascinates me about simulation videos like these; they really help give me a greater sense of scale and proportion when it comes to space objects.
Indeed. People often think it should take half the sky or more since it's the closest planet to the Sun, but it is still pretty far. The Sun appears ∼3x larger than it does from Earth, not much more than that!
Aye! If it were as big as taking up half the sky then I am sure our great big firey friend wouldve reeled in our lil planet and had her for lunch anyway! Not to mention it would probably also end up looking like a mini star due to burning up for being so close! XD
Most extrasolar systems we see, there are always planets way closer to their star than Mercury is to the sun. I wonder if there could have been another planet closer that was destroyed?
@@Jamieboi1989 Not to mention it'd need to be going ridiculously fast (but not too fast) around the sun just to maintain orbit 💀 Just imagine looking at the sun from Earth and seeing just the tiniest black speck zoom past it every second
How could you forget your suit? You trained for 5 years in the simulations like the rest of us, and had MONTHS to remember the suit before we got there.
Something I love about your videos is you play the most appropriate music that invites awe and contemplation and sometimes fear. With the soft subtitles, the experience is truly immersive.
There are true double sunrises (& sunsets!) on Mercury, but only if you are at the right longitudes. Here the sun rises, sinks back, then rises again. Then, at sunset, it sets, comes back, then sets properly. At other longitudes, 90deg away from the previous, you get double noons, where the sun passes overhead, stops & backtracks, then resumes its passage westward. Likewise there are double midnights, but there’s nothing dramatic to see there. This is all due to Mercury’s eccentric orbit & rotational locking, whereby it rotates three times for every two orbits of the sun. Its rotational speed is constant, but its orbital velocity changes greatly. When it is closest to the sun its orbital velocity makes a greater contribution the the sun’s apparent motion than its rotation does, and in the opposite direction. Owing to rotational locking, the longitudes where these phenomena are seen do not change.
That seems to happens also if you're a few miles from one of the poles, the sun sets, then as it just finishes setting, temporarily ever-so-slightly rises again before sinking, and then sunrise you get a brief teaser, it sets again,then rises for real
When you've fallen into every planet in the solar system, multiple moons and a quasar, but you've never fallen in love "Hello darkness my old friiiiieeeeeend..." 💀
Your videos are really cool. And they always give a relaxing but taciturn vibe. Keep them coming. How about falling into a shooting star? How would that be?
Fascinating as always Stargaze! Your animations always immerses us so well! Loved it! Crazy how extreme the temperatures and brightness can get on planets without atmospheres! 😮
Quoted from another comment: ''There are true double sunrises (& sunsets!) on Mercury, but only if you are at the right longitudes. Here the sun rises, sinks back, then rises again. Then, at sunset, it sets, comes back, then sets properly. At other longitudes, 90deg away from the previous, you get double noons, where the sun passes overhead, stops & backtracks, then resumes its passage westward. Likewise there are double midnights, but there’s nothing dramatic to see there. This is all due to Mercury’s eccentric orbit & rotational locking, whereby it rotates three times for every two orbits of the sun. Its rotational speed is constant, but its orbital velocity changes greatly. When it is closest to the sun its orbital velocity makes a greater contribution the the sun’s apparent motion than its rotation does, and in the opposite direction. Owing to rotational locking, the longitudes where these phenomena are seen do not change.''
Video idea/ideas: Now instead of planets in our solar system, you should make falling into exoplanets. I think it would be cool to experience falling into a world outside of our solar system
there's one of the best asimov's tales set on mercury, "runaround", I was a child when I first read it (kids used to read very early back then). I still remember the details of the story, the setting, the scorching hot as soon as the human stepped out from the rock's shadow...
On Mercury in the twilight zone there is an area where the temperature is a nice 25 C - and given the rotational speed, you could (in theory) walk and remain in that temperature zone. its an interesting place
When it landed, I was thinking ...why hasn't no one landed on Mercury yet..seems cool. Then I read "At night planet becomes freezing cold -170c", " At day the planet is burning hot with temperatures of 420c" and then I was like...ohhhhhh 😅
Hi I liked the video When you ultimately run out of planets to do then I have an idea Can you do videos like "Falling into Mercury if it had an atmosphere like earth"
Thank you for these “exploration” videos! My 3 year old is fascinated with them. Although when we watched Mercury he was upset and said “oh no Mercury has no moons? It has no friends ☹️ Maybe the Sun can be its friend” Poor planet 🤣
I can't imagine how bright that must be, to be on the surface of Mercury while the surface is lit up by the sun and also it being close enough the sun appears about 4x bigger in the sky than from Earth.
