Biggest Secret Mercury
In fact, only two spacecraft have ever managed to visit Mercury. Namely, NASA's Mariner 10 in the mid-1970s and now Messenger (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and ranging) that has been tried three times to fly to the planet since 2008, which finally managed to enter Mercury orbit in March.
Messenger mission is able to answer many mysteries surrounding the Mercury, including the following crossword puzzle.
Why are so dense?
Mercury is the second densest planet in the solar system, only slightly smaller than Earth. Scientists suspect that Mercury has a giant nucleus, or about two-thirds of its mass. On Earth, essentially only one-third portion.
"Collisions between rocky bodies in the early history of the solar system most likely make the outer layers of Mercury becomes less dense, leaving only the parts by weight," explained the director of the department of terrestrial magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Sean Solomon.
According to investigators Messenger mission, the results of chemical analysis of Messenger at Mercury's surface should be able to bring this impaktor theory in the test.
Magnetic Shielding
Besides Earth, Mercury is the only rocky planet in the solar system that has a significant magnetic field (although only 1% the strength of Earth). The presence of a magnetic field is not just a trivial question on this planet, but also protects the organism from the damaging radiation from the sun and the outer solar system.
Solomon describes the Earth's magnetic field as an 'umbrella to fend off incoming radiation,' and without this kind of terrain, will be very difficult for life to thrive or survive.
Researchers believe, Mercury's magnetic field generated by the process of 'dynamo' Earth-like driven turbulent electrically conductive, the liquid metal in the planet's outer core. "Messenger will map the geometry of the terrain in detail," Solomon said in Science that can be used to help scientists describe the origin of Mercury.
Mercury has ice?
Mercury is bathed in sunlight into a place that is almost impossible to find ice. However, some of the craters at Mercury's poles seem to be in permanent shadow, and mercury on the floor of this crater could reach minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit.
Solomon called it 'cold trap'. This place could be a "home" more than month ice deposits. Although not a lot of water, ice is still showing, "there is water everywhere, at least as a molecule," said Solomon.
Clumps of persistent atmospheric
Although Mercury became the smallest planet and has little gravity, somehow Mercury has an atmosphere, although very weak. "Somehow in the Mercury, the atmosphere continues to be regenerated," said Solomon.
Scientists suspect managed to take the matter of the 'solar wind,' the flow of particles that radiate out from the sun, which is able to contribute.
Carriers of the Day of Resurrection?
Mercury has the most eccentric orbit (in astronomical terms mean oval) than all other planets in the solar system. Recent computer simulations indicate, for several billion years, these orbits become more eccentric.
Mercury has a 1% chance of colliding with Venus or the sun. More frightening, together with the gravity of giant planets outside the orbit of Mercury could disrupt the orbits of the planets in that Mercury, Venus or Mars collided with Earth, a disaster is really toward the apocalypse.