From its “absurd” core to the confusing chemical makeup of its surface, o Hermes it is a planet full of surprises.
Mainly its origin is what is a big mystery for scientists, since they think it was bigger in the past. However, now it is believed that the rocky areas of Cyprus can provide more answers to this.
What we know about Mercury is that it is the smallest planet in our Solar System, it is closest to the Sun, and is “extreme”, since its surface temperature can vary from 400 C during the day to -170 C at night.
On Mercury, a year is only 88 Earth days long, and there is speculation that it was once a much larger mass, about the size of Earth.
In accordance with BBCsome planetary geologists believe they may be able to discover interesting information about the mysterious planet, based on some rocks found in Cyprus.
THE Nicola Marie is a planetary geologist at the University of Pavia in Italy, studying the ways in which our neighboring planets formed and evolved.
He himself visited Cyprus, with the aim of finding a specific type of stone, called “boninite”, which is believed to bear an uncanny resemblance to the rocks found on Mercury: a hypothesis that, if proven correct, could be a clue to the planet’s unique origin.
Mercury’s position has made it very difficult for scientists to study, with the main reason being the heatsince spacecraft approaching the planet must be able to withstand the scorching temperatures as they orbit so close to the Sun.
It is noted that the ratio of chemical substances on the surface of Mercury is extremely unusual, as is its core, which is huge.
The other planets have a relatively tiny core, surrounded by a thick mantle of magma and a hard crust. Mercury’s crust, however, appears to be surprisingly thin, while its core is unexpectedly massive compared to the mantle. “It’s absurd,” said Mari, adding: “The Mercury we see today may be nothing more than the core of the planet that was once there.”
As a result, some planetary scientists hypothesize that Mercury was originally formed further away from the Sun and that it started with a much larger mass, about the size of Earth. At some point in its history, however, Mercury is supposed to have collided with another planetary body that sent it spinning toward the Sun. Such a collision could have blown off its crust and much of its mantleleaving behind the massive liquid core.
Cyprus is a piece of crust that formed under the Tethys Ocean more than 90 million years ago. With the collision of tectonic plates, it was eventually pushed to the surface and became the island we know today.
Since the exploration of Mercury and the analysis of its surface is difficult, Nicola Mari visited the island in order to search there for elements that resemble those on the planet. And, eventually, he found the specific pieces of lava, known as “boninites,” that he sought.
When he returned, Mari, in collaboration with his colleagues at Nasa and the Planetary Science Museum in Italy, analyzed the composition of the rocks and compared them with samples taken from Mercury.
When the results came in, he was stunned. “They weren’t just similar, they were identical” he stated. The mix of elements such as magnesium, aluminum and iron was the same as that seen in the mysterious planet with the massive core. The only difference was that the rocks from Cyprus had oxidized – which is inevitable given Earth’s oxygen-rich atmosphere.
That makes it the first real terrestrial rock analogous to those on Mercury, Mari said. Further study of these rocks may help reveal some clues about Mercury’s past geologic activity.
We know, after all, that the Cypriot “boninites” were formed from lava that erupted from a shallow point in the Earth’s crust. Their near-perfect resemblance to rocks on Mercury therefore supports the idea that the mantle on this planet is unusually close to the surface, consistent with a violent origin that blasted away much of Mercury’s original crust, Mari said.
