Caroline Goldberg
Mr. Webb
Blog Post 3
The extremely hot surface of mercury would probably be the last place someone would think to find ice, but the messenger spacecraft has found ice and the strongest evidence of it. Mercury can't support life but many were surprised to find ice on the planet that is so close to the sun. The discovery of ice raises the question: how did materials like water get on earth? In the 1990s radars showed the presence of ice with bright spots on Mercury's poles. The new found information confirm the radars showing of frozen water on the planet. Inside the many craters on the planet, the temperature is predicted to be -173 degrees Celsius to prove that frozen water can exist on the planet. Temperature pattern also show that there could have been more ice on the planet than previously thought. Scientists think the ice and other materials arrived from comets or asteroids that landed on the planet.
This article talked about theories about how ice and other resources arrived on planets, which could very much effect our lives today. There have been many theories about how earth or mankind was created and scientists could be on the path to predicting how natural materials arrived on planets. Some of the studies could forever prove how life began on earth or how humans are able to sustain themselves on only one planet.
Article: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/scientists-discover-water-ice-on-mercury-1129.html
This is a very interesting article! I had no idea that a planet as hot as Mercury could have ice on it! Do scientists think Mercury could ever support life because it has water on it? What are some of the theories that scientists have thought of that prove how water got on some planets?
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