|
Temperature The hottest planet is Venus at 457° (730K). This is due to the greatest greenhouse effect in the solar system. Most light tends to bounce off Venus' atmosphere, making it bright as seen from Earth, but the light that does get through, stays and warms up the planet. Venus also has the smallest temperature range of any planet, about a few degrees Kelvin (or Celsius) difference, from high noon at the equator to deep winter at the poles. If you were exposed to Venus' atmosphere directly, you would do more than fry. You would evaporate. Because of Venus' thicker atmosphere (92 times Earth's), things heat up much faster than they normally would. Triton, the big moon of Neptune, is the coldest known place in the solar system measuring at a chilly 37K (-236°C). At this temperature, everything is a solid -- except for helium, hydrogen, and neon. The planet Mars, has the most hospitable temperature of any world other than Earth. It averages a high of -10° C at the equator and -25°C in mid-latitudes. For comparison, Antarctica gets an average high of -15°C during its summer. During a very hot day, in a very hot year, just after high noon near the equator, the temperature may get as high as 20°C. Mars has chilling lows of -75°C to -90°C (and greater in the winter). Mercury has the greatest range of temperatures. It can range from approximately 100K (-173°C) to 700K (427°C), a temperature range of 600K or 600°C. For comparison, the Earth lowest recorded temperature (Vostok, Antarctica alt. 11220 ft, July 21, 1983) is -89.2°C; the highest recorded temperature (in the shade at Al'Aziziyah, Libya, alt. 367 ft, Sept. 13, 1922) is 57.7°C. This is a temperature range of 146.9°C. Forward to Tides |