Mercury shrinking much more than scientists previously thought
Researchers say impact debris has hidden Mercury’s wrinkles, and a new analysis suggests the planet lost as much as 14.5 miles in diameter.
- On Thursday, scientists from the German Aerospace Center's Institute of Space Research reported that Mercury is shrinking 30% more than previously believed, with a loss in diameter of as much as 14 miles.
- Since its formation 4.5 billion years ago, Mercury has steadily contracted as its hot iron core cools, causing the rocky surface to crumple and crack to accommodate the planet's shrinking size.
- Debris from asteroid and comet impacts masked "wrinkle" features on Mercury's surface, leading researchers to underestimate total contraction; the planet's diameter may have changed by up to 14.5 miles rather than the previously estimated 2.5 to 10 miles.
- Lead study author Gaku Nishiyama, a planetary scientist at the German Aerospace Center, explained that greater shrinkage suggests Mercury could have a larger metal core or higher starting temperature. "It made us think that there's a process obscuring shortening structures," Nishiyama said.
- The joint European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency mission BepiColombo will begin collecting higher-resolution scans in November, helping clarify Mercury's interior evolution and confirming the planet's true shrinkage rate.
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Mercury’s Quiet Collapse: New Data Shows the Solar System’s Smallest Planet Has Shrunk Far More Than Expected
Mercury keeps getting smaller. Not in some distant future. Right now. Its iron core cools. The whole world contracts. And its surface wrinkles like a raisin left too long in the sun. Scientists long knew this happened. But a study released this week shows they underestimated the scale. By 10 to 30 percent. The planet may have lost as much as 14.5 miles from its diameter since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. Nearly one percent of its current 3,0…
Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System and, over the past 4.5 billion years, has declined at a much faster pace than astronomers expected, according to a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters. New discoveries will also help to understand other teluric worlds, such as Moon and Mars.
A new study reveals that the planet lost up to 23 kilometers in diameter since its formation
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