Mercury's Messenger finds strange hollows

William Atkins
Tuesday, 25 October 2011 22:49

Science - Space

The surface of the planet Mercury is being explored by the NASA MESSENGER spacecraft. NASA just announced the space probe discovered strange 'hollows', with some small in size and others gigantic. How they got there is a puzzle to astronomers.

NASA's David Blewett is a participating scientist and staff scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, and a member of its Planetary Exploration Group within the Space Department.

 

Dr. Blewett states, "We've been thinking of Mercury as a relic - a place that's really not changing much anymore, except by impact cratering.'

He adds, 'But the hollows appear to be younger than the craters in which they are found, and that means Mercury's surface is still evolving in a surprising way."

The hollows are depressions on the surface of Mercury that are from 60 feet (18.3 meters) to over 1 mile (1.6 kilometer) in diameter, and from 60 to 120 feet (18.3 to 36.6 meters) in depth.

As the October 24, 2011 NASA article 'Strange Hollows Discovered on Mercury' states, 'No one knows how they got there.'

Read more about this story at this before-mentioned NASA article, along with images taken by MESSENGER of these hollows, such as the ones found inside the Raditladi impact basin on Mercury.

MESSENGER is short for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging.