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Mercury (Planet): Orbits
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Despite its slow rotation, Mercury has a relatively strong magnetic field, with a magnetic field strength 1% as strong as the Earth's. It is possible that this magnetic field is generated in a manner similar to Earth's, by a dynamo of circulating liquid core material. However, scientists are unsure whether Mercury's core could still be liquid, although it could perhaps be kept liquid by tidal effects during periods of high orbital eccentricity. It is ... possible that Mercury's magnetic field is a remnant of an earlier dynamo effect that has now ceased, with the magnetic field becoming "frozen" in solidified magnetic materials.
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Despite its slow 59-day-long rotation, Mercury has a relatively strong, and apparently global, magnetic field. It is about 1.1% as strong as the Earth’s. It is likely that this magnetic field is generated in a manner similar to Earth’s, by a dynamo of circulating liquid core material. A mechanism that has been suggested for keeping it liquid are particularly strong tidal effects during periods of high orbital eccentricity.
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Mercury completes three rotations for every two orbits around the Sun. That means if you wanted to stay up from sunrise to sunrise on Mercury, you'd be up for 176 Earth days.
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Scientists used to think that the same side of Mercury always faces the sun, but in 1965 astronomers discovered that the planet rotates three times during every two orbits. Mercury speeds around the sun every 88 days, traveling through space at nearly 31 miles (50 kilometers) per second faster than any other planet. The length of one Mercury day (sidereal rotation) is equal to 58.646 Earth days.
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This encounter will provide a critical gravity assist needed to keep the spacecraft on track for its March 2011 orbit insertion, beginning an unprecedented yearlong study of Mercury. The flyby ... will gather essential data for mission planning.
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With these data the science team was able to detect tiny twists in Mercury's spin as it orbited the sun. These small variations were double what would be expected for a completely solid body. This finding ruled out a solid core, so the only logical explanation remaining was that the core - or at the very least the outer core - is molten and not forced to rotate along with its shell.
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