The controversy regarding the origins of Mercury smooth plains
July 8th 2008 08:17
Image of the Caloris basin
There has been some controversy about the origins of Mercury smooth plains and the source of its magnetic field. This argument has been in progress for the last 30 years. These questions may have answered by the new findings from analyses of data obtained in January 2008 flyby of the planet by the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging spacecraft.
Images taken by MESSENGER of Earth while onroute to Mercury
The tiny craft probed the composition of Mercury's thin atmosphere, sampled charged particles (ions) near the planet, and demonstrated new links between both sets of observations and materials on Mercury's surface. The results are reported in a series of 11 articles published in a special section of Science magazine July 4th edition.
The controversy over the origin of Mercury's smooth plains began with the 1972 Apollo 16 moon mission, which suggested that some lunar plains came from material that was ejected by large meteorite impacts and then formed smooth "lakes”.
Recent high-resolution imaging at different wavelengths, and altitude measurements found evidence of volcanic vents along the margins of the Caloris basin. The Caloris basin is the solar system's youngest impact basins. They also found that Caloris has a much more complicated geologic history than previously believed. The measurements also show a complex geologic history for Mercury.
The flyby revealed that the magnetic field, originating in the outer core and powered by core cooling, drives very dynamic and complex interactions within Mercury’s interior. Despite the immense heat of the Sun mercury does have a thin atmosphere.
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Comment by Cibbuano
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crazy... not such a great vacation spot..
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