Addition to the Al Gore post on Mercury and Venus

I forgot to mention the fact that Venus is three times hotter than Mercury.  Well, that is true and false.

The temp of Venus is usually in the ballpark of 740 degrees Kelvin.  

The temp of Mercury is the more variable temperature.  See, at night it can get down to 100 degrees Kelvin.  But during the day, Mercury gets to 720 degrees Kelvin. If you average the temperatures you can get it to sound like Venus is 3 times hotter than Mercury. 

But those are just the averages. 

It is true that Mercury flucuates because it has no atmosphere (it is small and the solar wind keeps it from having much atmosphere) and Venus stays warm due to its atmosphere.  But to say that Venus is three times warmer makes it sound like Mercury is always cold.  720 degrees Kelvin equals out to almost 840 degrees Farenheit. So it is hot.  And it is hot because it is close to the sun.  

Being 43 million miles from from a giant ball of nuclear fusion will do that to you.