Scientists 'Astonished' to Find Water in Mercury's Thin Atmosphere


	Scientists 'Astonished' to Find Water in Mercury's Thin Atmosphere

JohnWaterman

7-4-2008 10:48 AM

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tags:

messenger, science, mercury, planets, solar system, astronomy

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/8bcc3259-156c-4bd9-bf73-478703eab245/D6152C1A-A389-4797-BDFB-367660C1897B/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html" href="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.planetary.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html">As <A href="http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/messenger/">MESSENGER</A> <A href="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0110_MESSENGER_Set_for_First_Spacecraft.html">flew
	    past the night side of Mercury in January</A>, its Fast Imaging
	  Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) scooped up ions from an atmosphere so tenuous that
	  it's usually called an "exosphere."  FIPS measured the expected
	  amounts of ions like sodium, potassium, and calcium that had previously been
	  detected in Mercury's exosphere, but to the science team's great surprise
	  there was also water present, and in large amounts.  "Nobody expected
	  that.  I don't know a single person that did.  We were astonished,
	  just astonished," said MESSENGER science team member Thomas Zurbuchen.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.planetary.org/img/13A25F3F-1865-438B-B817-A67210895E28" alt="MESSENGER's flight through Mercury's 'tail'" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.planetary.org/img/58BE0EA4-77ED-4CB2-BA87-92AFF6D2D951" alt="First FIPS spectrum of ions in Mercury's exosphere" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html"><DIV class="small"><A target="_blank" href="http://www.planetary.org/image/MESSENGER_Zurbuchen_Figure5_5.png">Click to enlarge &gt;</A></DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html">How could there be water on Mercury?</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html">Firstly, it has long been theorized
</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html">that there may be
	  reservoirs of water ice in small areas of Mercury's poles where local topography
	  creates permanently shadowed spots</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html">Second, the water could come from comets.  Third,
	  the process of chemical sputtering could create water where none existed before
	  from the ingredients of solar wind and Mercury rock</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.planetary.org/img/3A710EA2-BAA3-41B2-BC3E-2B5F6142315E" alt="Mercury's Caloris basin" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0703_MESSENGER_Scientists_Astonished_to.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.planetary.org/img/E8B7D8F0-480D-4F06-9190-E2F4A489BA50" alt="Shield volcano on the rim of Caloris basin" /></div></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/D6152C1A-A389-4797-BDFB-367660C1897B/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>