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Old 06-25-2008, 07:11 PM
Rob B Rob B is offline
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Default Why is Mercury the hottest and coldest planet in the solar system?

I've read that Mercury is actually the hottest and coldest planet in the solar system since it always has the same face to the sun. I occured to me, however, that with Mercury being as small as it is and composed largely of iron, wouldn't the radiant heat from the sun facing side warm the surface sufficiently so that it would be at least warmer than say Neptune which is much further from the sun?
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