New data from MESSENGER, the spacecraft that orbited Mercury for four years before crashing into the planet a week ago, reveals Mercury's magnetic field is almost four billion years old. The discovery helps scientists piece ...
Space Exploration
May 7, 2015
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New evidence gathered by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft at Mercury indicates the planet closest to the sun has shrunk up to 7 kilometers in radius over the past 4 billion years, much more than earlier estimates.
Space Exploration
Mar 16, 2014
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(Phys.org) —The surface of Mercury is rather different from those of well-known rocky bodies like the Moon and Mars. Early images from the Mariner 10 spacecraft unveiled a planet covered by smooth plains and cratered plains ...
Space Exploration
Jul 3, 2013
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(Phys.org)—New observations by the MESSENGER spacecraft provide compelling support for the long-held hypothesis that Mercury harbors abundant water ice and other frozen volatile materials in its permanently shadowed polar ...
Space Exploration
Nov 29, 2012
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Ever since the Mariner 10 mission in 1974 snapped the first pictures of Mercury, planetary scientists have been intrigued by smooth plains covering parts of the surface. Some suspected past volcanic activity, ...
Space Exploration
Sep 29, 2011
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On March 18, 2011, the MESSENGER spacecraft entered orbit around Mercury to become that planet's first orbiter. The spacecraft's instruments are making a complete reconnaissance of the planet's geochemistry, geophysics, geologic ...
Space Exploration
Jun 16, 2011
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For the first time, Earth has a regular orbiting eye-in-the-sky spying on the solar system's smallest and strangest planet, Mercury.
Space Exploration
Mar 18, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Analysis of data from MESSENGER's third and final flyby of Mercury in September 2009 has revealed evidence of younger volcanism on the innermost planet than previously recognized, new information about magnetic ...
Space Exploration
Jul 15, 2010
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Since Mercury is the closest planet to the sun among the solar system planets, it is strongly influenced by the solar wind, a high-speed (several hundred km/s) stream of plasma blowing from the sun. Explorations of Mercury ...
Astronomy
Oct 10, 2023
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Using Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, PSI Associate Research Scientist Elizabeth A. Jensen's team observed radio signals from the MESSENGER spacecraft and discovered that solar eruptions known to cause communication ...
Space Exploration
Aug 27, 2018
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