Mercury tagged posts

Scientists used models along with earlier findings from the MESSENGER mission to shed light on how certain types of comets influence the micrometeoroids that preferentially impact Mercury on the dawn side of the planet. Here, data from the Mercury Atmosphere and Surface Composition Spectrometer, or MASCS, instrument is overlain on the mosaic from the Mercury Dual Imaging System, or MDIS. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Mercury, our smallest planetary neighbor, has very little to call an atmosphere, but it does have a strange weather pattern: morning micro-meteor showers...

Researchers have developed a specialized type of glowing metal organic framework, or LMOF (molecular structure at center), that is designed to detect and remove heavy-metal toxins from water. At upper left, mercury (Hg) is taken in by the LMOF. The graph at lower left shows how the LMOF’s fluorescence is turned off as it binds up the mercury. Its properties make this LMOF useful for both detecting and trapping heavy-metal toxins. Credit: Rutgers University

X-ray study explores atomic structure of tiny traps for heavy metals. Tiny, glowing crystals that detect and capture heavy-metal toxins such as lead and mercury could prove to be a powerful new tool in locating and cleaning up contaminated water sources...

A beautiful view of Mercury’s horizon. In this scene, which was acquired looking from the shadows toward the sunlit side of the planet, a 120-km (75 mi.) impact crater stands out near the center. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

NASA researchers have found that several volcanic deposits on Mercury’s surface require mantle melting to have started close to the planet’s core-mantle boundary, which lies only 400km below the planets surface and making it unique in the solar system. This is reported at the Goldschmidt conference in Yokohama, Japan. The recent MESSENGER mission to Mercury has shown that the surface of the planet is very heterogeneous, but it can be classified into 2 main types of regions...

Mercury appears to undergo a recurring meteoroid shower when its orbit crosses the debris trail left by comet Encke. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: NASA/Goddard

Mercury is being pelted regularly by bits of dust from an ancient comet, a new study has concluded. This has a discernible effect in the planet’s tenuous atmosphere and may lead to a new paradigm on how these airless bodies maintain their ethereal envelopes.

On a clear, moonless night we Earthlings witness dust grains as they burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere in the form of meteors or “shooting stars.” At certain times of the year, their numbers increase manyfold, creating a natural fireworks display: a meteor shower. This is caused by the Earth passing through a stream of dust particles left behind by certain comets.

One of the most ...