Mercury Planet Summary Worksheet for Educational Use

It looks like you've uploaded a worksheet titled "Planet Summary" focused on Mercury, with some blanks to fill in based on planetary facts. Since I can't view images directly, I’ll help you solve the task by interpreting the content from your description and filling in the blanks based on known scientific facts about Mercury.

Here’s how we can complete this worksheet:

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Planet Summary – Mercury

#### Basic Information:
- Orbit Time: 88 Earth days
- Distance from sun: About 57.9 million km (0.39 AU)
- Planetary composition: Rocky (terrestrial planet)
- Named for: Roman god of commerce and travel
- Estimated radius: ~2,440 km

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Planetary Facts (Fill in the blanks):

1. Mercury is the ___ planet from the sun.
✔ Answer: *closest*
→ Mercury is the first planet from the Sun.

2. Mercury’s ____ atmosphere is mostly oxygen.
✔ Answer: *thin*
→ Mercury has an extremely thin exosphere, not a true atmosphere. It's composed mostly of oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium, and potassium — but it's not "mostly oxygen" in significant amounts. However, based on common textbook simplifications, it might be phrased as such. A more accurate answer would be:
→ "Mercury’s exosphere is mostly oxygen."
But if the blank is just for one word, "exosphere" or "thin" fits best. Given context, likely intended: "thin"

3. Night on Mercury is extremely ____, at -175°C.
✔ Answer: *cold*
→ This matches the clue “cold” given above.

4. ____ was discovered on its north pole in 2012.
✔ Answer: *Water ice*
→ NASA’s MESSENGER mission confirmed water ice in permanently shadowed craters near Mercury’s poles in 2012.

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Final Completed Section:

> • Mercury is the closest planet from the sun.
> • Mercury’s thin atmosphere is mostly oxygen.
> • Night on Mercury is extremely cold, at -175°C.
> • Water ice was discovered on its north pole in 2012.

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Optional: Writing Prompts (Lines 1–4)

These are likely for students to write short answers or summaries. Possible responses:

1. Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in our solar system.
2. It has extreme temperature changes between day and night.
3. Despite being close to the Sun, it has ice at its poles.
4. Mercury has no moons and a weak magnetic field.

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Let me know if you'd like this formatted as a printable worksheet or need help with any other parts!