Messenger probe in Mercury orbit

1 15. 07. 2022
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Messenger reached its destination on March 18, 2013. It became the first contemporary Earth probe from NASA's workshop to be parked in orbit around Mercury. In the three months of its operation, it has taken thousands of high-resolution photographs of Mercury's surface.

One of the probe's tasks is to investigate Mercury's magnetic field and changes on the planet's surface. We will get an overview of what is happening on this planet, says Sean Salomon (Carnegie Institute), who leads the Messenger project. He adds that many of the things we thought about Mercury are now being replaced by new claims.

Based on images taken by the Mariner spacecraft in 1974 and 1975, we were unable to discern what was clear about them. stains. Thanks to high resolution images, we now know they are pitches of several hundred meters. Their material has a great ability to reflect light.

Scientists have never encountered anything like it. He's trying to figure out how these pits came into being. There are expected to be more volatiles on Mercury's surface than previously thought.

The Messenger spacecraft also focuses on the chemical composition of the planet. At first glance, its surface may appear to us as the surface of the Moon. However, there are some differences. It contains, unlike the Moon, a high concentration of sulfur, which leads to the assumption that Mercury had a much lower concentration of oxygen when it was formed than other planets in our solar system.

It turns out that other assumptions about this planet were also nice. The high density of a planet with a giant metal core was thought to be caused by other substances evaporating from the Sun in the past. But the reality is that Mercury still has gaseous compounds today.

Mercury also appears to have lost much of its upper mass after colliding with another body.

More than 20 flights, thanks to terrestrial radiotelescopes, have found that there are sediments on Mercury's surface containing water ice. They are mostly at the bottom of crater poles, where the sun does not shine. The Messenger Probe now examines this hypothesis. It seems that local craters are deep enough to make it possible.

During three orbits carried out by the Mercury spacecraft in 1974, it recorded several strong flashes of particles with a high concentration of energy. The Messenger spacecraft, which began approaching the planet in 2008 and 2009, did not notice anything like this until it reached polar orbit. Scientists believe this is due to the interaction between the planet and the solar wind.

Of the four terrestrial planets, only Earth and Mercury have strong magnetic fields. Scientists have now found that Mercury's magnetic field is much stronger in the northern hemisphere than in the southern. Thus, the magnetic equator lies 480 km from the geological one. This asymmetry occurs between the outer core and the shell - where it forms. Similarly, there is another planet in our solar system, and that is Saturn.


As always, it is worth mentioning that Photos NASA's website is black and white or low resolution. Or, in high resolution, but large areas, so the effect is the same. So why is there a high-resolution camera? ;)

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