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NASA Probe Finds Ice and Organics on Mercury
- varikin 14y agoIs this the first time organic material has been confirmed outside of Earth?
- lelf 14y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_interstellar_and_circumstellar_molecules http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_interstellar_and_circum...
- dimitar 14y agoNo, it is known for a long time that organic compounds like Methane are found in the atmospheres of planets and comets.
- jlgreco 14y agoTitan, the largest moon of Saturn, even has lakes of either methane or ethane. (It is pretty cold out there.)
- pavel_lishin 14y agoAlcohol was also found in space: http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2001/vinylalco/ http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2001/vinylalco/
- xpose2000 14y agoFor the organic material to be on top of the frozen ice is a fascinating find. I wonder what's below that? I suppose any permanently shaded areas on that planet have huge potential.
- lmm 14y agoOrganic material could easily just mean some kind of light oil (even gasoline floats on water)
- loboman 14y agoIs this the announcement Nasa was talking about, or is this unrelated?
- kayz 14y agoNo, the announcement you had in mind is related to the findings from Curiosity on Mars.
- themstheones 14y agoThe hyped announcement was about Mars, and hasn't been released yet.
- ajuc 14y agoAnd has been already debunked :) http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-377 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-377
- anoved 14y agoEmily Lakdawalla has posted a good explanatory write-up, with more details on the methodology and background on the research, at the Planetary Society blog: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2012/11291206-mercury-polar-ice.html http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2012/1129120...
- TallGuyShort 14y agoCan someone explain why the discovery of ice and organics on Mars and Mercury such a surprise? If the prevailing opinion in science is that life formed spontaneously on Earth because the required chemistry was already present, doesn't it follow that similar compounds would be found through out the solar system? I get that each planet has a dramatically different composition in terms of what it primarily consists of, but I would expect traces of things like water and simple organic compounds to be found in various concentrations through out the solar system, no?
- stephengillie 14y agoAgreed. These are simple combinations of the 4 most abundant atoms in the universe. If anything it speaks to a lack of scientific understanding in the amazed, or maybe it's my (and your?) cynical nature.
- incision 14y ago>Can someone explain why the discovery of ice and organics on Mars and Mercury such a surprise? It isn't a surprise, the hypothesis has been around for a long time, this is just new supporting evidence. >If the prevailing opinion in science is that life formed spontaneously on Earth because the required chemistry was already present, doesn't it follow that similar compounds would be found through out the solar system? The big difference with Earth is position and the presence of a protective magnetosphere [1]. 1: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast31jan_1/ http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/as...
- mortenjorck 14y agoIt's like the Higgs boson. It's a resounding "yes, we were on the right track."
- sliverstorm 14y agoAdditionally, enough gravity to maintain an atmosphere. Mars isn't in a terrible spot, but it can't hold on to water vapor, oxygen, etc.
- ivanb 14y agoIce on Mercury, the closes planet to the Sun? Unbelievable. Indeed Wikipedia tells that the temperature gradient on the planet ranges "from a very cold 100 K at night to a very hot 700 K during the day." I used to think that Mercury is a half-molten radioactive hell. For me organic material is not that exciting. Such substances as methane seem to be everywhere in space.
- carb 14y agoMany of my friends have the same views of Mercury during discussions and I find it funny. I learned about these peculiarities of planets from Dav Pilkey (known for his Captain Underpants books) in his RIcky Ricotta's series. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Ricotta%27s_Mighty_Robot_vs._the_Mutant_Mosquitos_from_Mercury#Ricky_Ricotta.27s_Mighty_Robot_vs._the_Mutant_Mosquitos_from_Mercury http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Ricotta%27s_Mighty_Robot_...)
- incision 14y ago>Ice on Mercury, the closes planet to the Sun? Unbelievable. Amazing what an atmosphere, or the lack thereof, can do for a planet.
- stcredzero 14y agoI used to think that Mercury is a half-molten radioactive hell. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven#Work http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven#Work
- stcredzero 14y ago100 billion tons of water covered with organics has just made the Mercury polar regions two of the most desirable pieces of real estate in the solar system after Earth and Mars. The water would be helpful for establishing colonies and industry (like producing solar panels from silicon) as well as being a valuable resource in its own right. If there are enough organics of the right kind, they could be used to make thin films, possibly allowing solar sails to be made in-situ. Combining this with the abundant energy and the advantageous combination of being low in the Sun's gravity well, this makes Mercury a prime location both for energy-intensive industry and export to the rest of the solar system. You see, the deeper in a gravity well you apply thrust, the more delta-v you get from it. Since the Sun is the biggest gravity well in the solar system, and since solar sails have their highest thrust near the sun, you get lots of highly-leveraged thrust for free, so the location is very advantageous for export. I think one day Mercury is going to be in the business of packaging energy as antimatter and shipping it all over the solar system.
- dfischer 14y agoAmazing perspective. Thank you for sharing.
- antidoh 14y ago"establishing colonies" The radiation must be horrific.
- tambourine_man 14y agoNot on the dark side, Mercury is almost tide locked with the Sun. I always dreamed of a colony that could harvest the temperature gradient between the two sides.
- stcredzero 14y ago> The radiation must be horrific. Obviously not where there's water ice. ('doh, Antidoh!) Click on the picture on this page to look at the configuration of the shadowed craters at the poles. (Yellow indicates a permanently shadowed region, also where water was found.) http://www.space.com/18687-water-ice-mercury-messager-discovery.html http://www.space.com/18687-water-ice-mercury-messager-discov... In 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson describes Mercury settlements slowly rolling along huge crawlers. http://amzn.com/0316098124 http://amzn.com/0316098124 But with the permanently shadowed craters, you wouldn't need them.
- ChuckMcM 14y agoI've always wondered if something like the Chixclub (sp?) asteroid impact could impart enough energy to eject water and soil to escape velocity. Clearly easier to do at an angle than straight into the ground but the interesting calculation would be this, what size rock would have to collide with the ocean at what level to knock a chunk of the earth to Mercury ? We know this sort of transfer takes place since we've got meteorites that are from Mars so something hit Mars and knocked bits of it here. Surely there is an astrophysicist in the house who could tell me if this is possible or just crazy talk.
- arethuza 14y agoI'm pretty sure that KSR mentions the possibility of some of his characters finding a chunk of Yucatan on Mars - so its perhaps not completely crazy... Some impact events appear to have been a lot larger (and therefore presumably a lot more energy) than Chicxulub - e.g. the Vredefort Crater in South Africa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vredefort_crater http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vredefort_crater
- ChuckMcM 14y agoYouza! That is a big hole. Thanks for the link, filed under "things I don't want to be near when they happen." :-)