astronomy

Mercury in fiction

Mercury in fiction is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mercury in fiction rather than just read about it. In short: Fictional depictions of Mercury, the innermost planet of the Solar System, have gone through three distinct phases. Before much was known about the planet, it received scant attention.

Key takeaways

Mercury in fiction belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mercury in fiction to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mercury in fiction from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Fictional depictions of Mercury, the innermost planet of the Solar System, have gone through three distinct phases. Before much was known about the planet, it received scant attention. Later, when it was incorrectly believed that it was tidally locked with the Sun creating a permanent dayside and nightside, stories mainly focused on the conditions of the two sides and the narrow region of permanent twilight between. Since that misconception was dispelled in the 1960s, the planet has again received less attention from fiction writers, and stories have largely concentrated on the harsh environmental conditions that come from the planet's proximity to the Sun. A planet closer to the Sun than Mercury was once hypothesized to exist based on then-unexplained anomalies in Mercury's orbit that have since been explained by the effects of general relativity. This hypothetical planet, Vulcan, has appeared in several stories.

Early depictions Mercury's closeness to the Sun makes astronomical observations difficult, and throughout most of history little was consequently known about the planet, which was reflected in fiction writing. It has appeared as a setting in fiction since at least the 1622 work L'Adone by Giambattista Marino, which also visits the Moon and Venus. The first novel focused specifically on Mercury was the 1750 novel Relation du Monde de Mercure (English title: The World of Mercury) by Chevalier de Béthune, which is unusual for the time in not using the fictional extraterrestrial society for purposes of satire or utopian fiction. In W. S. Lach-Szyrma's 1883 novel Aleriel, or A Voyage to Other Worlds, Mercurians are depicted as living in the planet's atmosphere. John Munro's 1897 novel A Trip to Venus portrays a brief visit to Mercury as well as Venus. The first English-language work of fiction set primarily on Mercury was William Wallace Cook's 1905 novel Adrift in the Unknown, or Adventures in a Queer Realm, a satire on United States capitalism. Homer Eon Flint's 1919 short story "The Lord of Death" depicts the ruins of a previous civilization now extinct on Mercury.

Tidal locking

From 1893 to the 1960s, it was believed that Mercury was 1:1 tidally locked with the Sun such that one side of Mercury was always in sunlight and the opposite side always in darkness, with a thin band of perpetual twilight in between; numerous works of fiction written in this period portray Mercury in this way. Examples include Ray Cummings' 1930 novel Tama of the Light Country where the inhabitants of Mercury live their lives under an unmoving Sun, Clark Ashton Smith's 1932 short story "The Immortals of Mercury" where there are two different hostile species on the planet, Isaac Asimov's 1942 short story "Runaround" (later included in the 1950 fix-up novel I, Robot) where a robot is sent to retrieve critical supplies from the inhospitable dayside and malfunctions, Hal Clement's 1953 novel Iceworld where aliens accustomed to much higher temperatures than those found on Earth set up camp on the hot dayside of Mercury, Asimov's 1956 short story "The Dying Night" where a character who has spent a long time on Mercury is used to there being areas in permanent darkness, Alan E. Nourse's 1956 short story "Brightside Crossing" which depicts an attempt to cross the illuminated side of the planet "because it's there" as a feat similar to the then-recent first successful ascent of Mount Everest in 1953, Poul Anderson's 1957 short story "Life Cycle" where there is a species that changes from female to male when it goes from the nightside to the dayside and vice versa, Kurt Vonnegut's 1959 novel The Sirens of Titan where there are lifeforms in caves on the nightside that live off of vibrations, and Eli Sagi's 1963 novel Harpatkotav Shel Captain Yuno Al Ha'kochav Ha'mistori (English title: The Adventures of Captain Yuno on the Mysterious Planet) where the inhabitants of the respective hemispheres are at war. Larry Niven's 1964 short story "The Coldest Place" depicts the nightside of Mercury and may be the last story of a tidally locked Mercury; between the time the story was written and when it was published, it was discovered that the planet is not tidally locked—it actually has a 3:2 spin–orbit resonance such that all sides regularly see daylight.

Modern depictions

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mercury in fiction

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mercury in fiction claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mercury in fiction before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mercury in fiction ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mercury in fiction

In research: Mercury in fiction appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mercury in fiction in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mercury in fiction is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fiction about planets, Fiction set on Mercury (planet), so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mercury in fiction outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mercury in fiction in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mercury in fiction means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mercury in fiction out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mercury in fiction in simple terms?

Fictional depictions of Mercury, the innermost planet of the Solar System, have gone through three distinct phases. Before much was known about the planet, it received scant attention.

Why does Mercury in fiction matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mercury in fiction?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mercury in fiction.