The Sky at Night · SEASON 60
Mercury: The Problem Child of the Solar System
Episode 4 · 2016-05-08
- Documentary
- News
Episode overview
May 9 2016 sees one of the astronomical highlights of the year - a transit of Mercury across the sun, the best opportunity to observe this phenomenon until 2049. To mark the event, the Sky at Night attempts to explain the many mysteries of Mercury - a planet so bizarre that it is sometimes described as the 'problem child' of the solar system. Surface temperatures exceed 450 degrees but it also has patches of ice, its day is twice as long as its year, and it is a planet that appears to be shrinking.
Season 60 episodes
1. Planet 9 From Outer Space2016-02-14
2. Five Greatest Images of the Solar System2016-03-13
3. Stephen Hawking on Black Holes2016-04-10
4. Mercury: The Problem Child of the Solar System2016-05-08
5. Secrets of the Whirlpool Galaxy2016-06-12
6. Juno: Mission to Jupiter2016-07-10
7. Interstellar: The Journey to Proxima Centauri2016-09-11
8. Goodbye Rosetta: A Sky At Night Special2016-10-02
9. Life on Mars2016-11-13
10. Review of the Year2016-12-11
