I and many of us answered this question wrong once in our lifetime that Mercury is the hottest planet in our solar system. And it’s all because we think that it is the closest planet to the sun. But the distance from the sun has little to do with the planet’s temperature.
Venus, the brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon, also known as ‘Morning’ and ‘Evening Star’. It is the hottest planet in our solar system because of its dense atmosphere, which mostly contains carbon dioxide and some nitrogen. This Carbon dioxide traps the heat and keeps the surface of Venus very hot which remains at about 462 degrees Celsius throughout the year. The temperature here is hot enough to melt lead. Venus has a runaway of the greenhouse effect, It’s a never-ending cycle of heat being trapped inside due to the rising carbon dioxide levels. This happens when an atmosphere absorbs too much carbon dioxide: the heat has nowhere to go. As the temperature rises it affects the entire planet, creeping deep into the depths of the core.
On the other hand, Mercury has a lot of variations in its temperature. Its temperature can be as cold as -173 degrees Celsius at night because it has almost no atmosphere that can hold the heat and keep the surface warm. It might reach 427 degrees Celsius during day time due to its vicinity to the sun. Mercury has a thin atmosphere, which is why there are so many variations in its temperature.
By – Saksham Bhalla
MYTH DIARIES 