Using data from NASA’s MESSENGER mission, astronomers created the first global digital elevation model (DEM)…
Browsing: Mercury
Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun every 88 Earth days. Its proximity to the Sun, only about 36 million miles away, results in extreme temperature variations, ranging from -280 degrees Fahrenheit at night to 800 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Mercury has a barren, rocky surface marked with craters and has almost no atmosphere, which means it cannot retain heat or protect itself from solar radiation and space weather. Its thin exosphere is composed mostly of oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium, and potassium. Scientific interest in Mercury revolves around its geological history, its magnetic field—which is unusual for such a small planet—and its very dense composition, which suggests a large metallic core. Missions like NASA’s MESSENGER and ESA’s upcoming BepiColombo aim to study Mercury in more detail, offering insights into the planet itself as well as broader questions about planetary formation and evolution in our solar system.
Using data from the MESSENGER spacecraft, scientists reveal new insights about Mercury. The first measurements…
NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft collected low-altitude magnetic field measurements during its orbital decay, revealing that magnetism…
Since entering Mercury orbit on March 17, 2011, NASA’s MESSENGER Spacecraft has provided astronomers with…
Using data from the MESSENGER spacecraft, scientists reveal previously unrecognized geochemical terranes of Mercury. Two…
New data from NASA’s MESSENGER has revealed seasonal surges of calcium in the exosphere of…
Scientists used data from NASA’s Messenger spacecraft to reveal how Mercury’s core is different from…
Using data from NASA’s MESSENGER mission, scientists have identified hot flow anomalies in Mercury’s bow…
A newly published study from the Carnegie Institute resolves a decades-old paradox between thermal history…
NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft captures a color image of the Hovnatanian crater, an elliptical crater on…
The Mercury Planetary Orbiter is one step closer to its 2015 launch, completing a “bake-out”…
This NASA image of the day shows a multi-colored Mercury using color to enhance the…
While the surface of Mercury is hot enough in some places to melt lead, the…
There is more to Mercury than scientists previously thought. MESSENGER, the first ever probe to…