The barren rock hugging the Sun may not just be the inhospitable domain scientists once thought it was. In fact, some are claiming that the charred planet may be able to help us understand how Earth came to be inhabited. While nobody is saying that there are definitely microbes slinking about the planet, recent data from NASA’s MESSENGER space probe has shed some surprising light on Mercury.
New information was presented at the 46th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, which is being held all this week.
Thomas Watters, of the Smithsonian Space Museum states that the perception of Mercury has changed radically. What once was assumed to be a planet that has stagnated for eons, does in fact have quite a bit of activity, both externally and internally.
To start, there is noticeable tectonic activity picked up by MESSENGER along with a variety of material thrown through the planet’s surface.
Despite the rumbling, the space probe studied strange areas known as hollows. They do not appear to be craters, and can range in size from a few meters to over a kilometer in diameter. While those working with MESSENGER has no definite consensus, it is believed that this are sublimations – essentially large holes formed in the ground caused by volatile materials beneath the surface.
That’s not all. Mercury has been bombarded time and again, yet some of these hollows show no impact area. This has led David Blewett, a geologist at John Hopkins University, to postulate that the hollows must be rather young.
The space probe also detected wrinkles throughout the surface of the planet, dubbed scarps and graben depending on their formation. Scars are formed because Mercury is shrinking. As the planet gradually cools and contracts, the total surface area is slowly shrunk, leading to these odd shaped areas. The scarps and graben are also thought to be young, showing that the planet has not reached the final stages of its evolution.
Lastly, and perhaps most important, MESSENGER investigated the poles of Mercury. Back in 2012, the space probe found evidence for water ice and it is now believed that there may be a layer of organic material spread across the top. These are regions that never see sunlight and are accordingly extremely cold. The material, along with much else seen by MESSENGER, appears to be very young. The organic compounds may have been brought to the planet recently.
Unfortunately, the probes’ mission is coming to an end, it is expected to run out of fuel this April. At that point, its orbit will decay leading to an eventual collision with Mercury. Yet the mission is deemed a success, as astronomers have a wealth of information at their hands to better understand our Solar System’s smallest planet.
