| | Astronomers of the period hypothesized either an [[Asteroid Belt|asteroid belt]] or another planet (which they named [[Vulcan (planet)|Vulcan]]) inside Mercury's orbit. Einstein's second-order correction to Mercury's orbit supposedly accounts for 42.98 arc-seconds of precession and obviated the need to look for any unseen asteroids or innermost planet.<ref name=Britannica/><ref>https://www.math.washington.edu/~morrow/papers/Genrel.pdf | | Astronomers of the period hypothesized either an [[Asteroid Belt|asteroid belt]] or another planet (which they named [[Vulcan (planet)|Vulcan]]) inside Mercury's orbit. Einstein's second-order correction to Mercury's orbit supposedly accounts for 42.98 arc-seconds of precession and obviated the need to look for any unseen asteroids or innermost planet.<ref name=Britannica/><ref>https://www.math.washington.edu/~morrow/papers/Genrel.pdf |
| − | , Accessed 13/12/16</ref><ref name=Hartnett>Hartnett, John. ''Starlight, Time, and the New Physics''. Creation Book Publishers, 2007, pp. 34-36. ISBN 9780949906687.</ref> The theoretical error in the relativity calculation is stated to be around 0.04 arc-seconds<ref>Iorio, L., ''On the possibility of measuring the solar oblateness and some relativistic effects from planetary ranging'', 2004</ref>. propagating the error on measurements (e.g. the positions and speeds of planets have some uncertainty in them so the Newtonian prediction has some error in it) through produces a theoretical value of 574±0.69 arc-seconds. This is within the supposed tolerance of the observations. | + | , Accessed 13/12/16</ref><ref name=Hartnett>Hartnett, John. ''Starlight, Time, and the New Physics''. Creation Book Publishers, 2007, pp. 34-36. ISBN 9780949906687.</ref> The theoretical error in the relativity calculation is stated to be around 0.04 arc-seconds.<ref>Iorio, L., ''On the possibility of measuring the solar oblateness and some relativistic effects from planetary ranging'', 2004</ref> propagating the error on measurements (e.g. the positions and speeds of planets have some uncertainty in them so the Newtonian prediction has some error in it) through produces a theoretical value of 574±0.69 arc-seconds. This is within the supposed tolerance of the observations. |
| | Mercury has more or less no atmosphere, and many craters.<ref>John Gribbin, ''Companion to the Cosmos'' (Little, Brown & Company, 1996)</ref> It has no known moons. | | Mercury has more or less no atmosphere, and many craters.<ref>John Gribbin, ''Companion to the Cosmos'' (Little, Brown & Company, 1996)</ref> It has no known moons. |