Mmastodon ScienceScience first seen 2 d ago, last 1 d ago, peak #2

Mercury's day is twice as long as its year

Original: ☀️ One Mercury day = two Mercury years. Mercury spins so slowly that a single solar day (sunrise to sunrise) lasts 176 E

Astronomy enthusiasts are highlighting a curious fact about Mercury: the planet spins so slowly that one solar day, from sunrise to sunrise, lasts 176 Earth days, while a Mercurian year lasts just 88 Earth days. That means a single daytime on Mercury is twice as long as the planet's entire year, a result of its slow rotation combined with its fast orbit around the Sun.

Why now: People enjoy sharing surprising and counterintuitive facts about space.

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Evidence

• ☀️ One Mercury day = two Mercury years. Mercury spins so slowly that a single solar day (sunrise to sunrise) lasts 176 Earth days — while a year there is only 88. So one Mercurian daytime is twice as long as its whole year. Slow spin, fast orbit. # space # astronomy # mercury #… · eatrics · 2

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