[ad_1]
Scientists believe that two meteorites found in the Sahara Desert in 2023 may come from the closest planet Mercury to the Sun. If confirmed, it will be the first meteorite found from mercury.
Mercury is difficult to study because it is very close to the Sun. Only two spacecraft, merrinner 10 and Messenger, have visited it so far. A third, Bipicolombbo, will reach there in 2026.
From Mars and Moon, more than 1,100 meteorites have reached Earth. However, mercury has never been confirmed as a source.
Researchers now think that mercury, regardless of its size, may be able to send rock pieces into space during asteroid effects. Planets like Venus, though close to the Earth, may not be able to do so due to their strong gravity and thick environment.
If proved correct, these new meteorites can help scientists to understand the surface of Mercury better.
“Depending on the amount of lunar and martian meteorites, according to dynamic modeling, we should have about 10 mercury meteorites,” CNN quoted the researcher Ben Rider-Stokes.
“However, the mercury is very close to the sun, so anything that is taken out of the mercury is also to avoid the gravity of the sun to go to us. It is dynamically possible, just very difficult. Someone confident has not confidently identified a meteorite from Mercury,” he said.
If the mercury is confirmed, meteorite NWA 15915 and KG 022 can help scientists to learn more about the planet. However, there is doubt as the rocks look 500 million years larger than the surface of the mercury.
Rider-stoxes, anyway, believe that this mismatch may be due to incorrect estimates. Until the samples are brought from mercury or planet’s journey, it is very difficult to prove that their origin is very difficult.
Finds the previous
In 2012, a meteorite called NWA 7325 found in Morocco was considered from Mercury. This encouraged scientists. Nevertheless, later tests showed that it had a lot of chrome, which did not match the known surface of the mercury.
Another group of meteorites, called Obrevits, earlier found in France, was also considered from the inner layer of mercury. However, their chemical makeup did not match the surface of the mercury.
These new meteorites found in Sahara, however, can actually be from mercury. These rocks have minerals such as olivin and pyroxin, which match NASA’s Messenger spacecraft findings. The samples did not even show any iron, which makes sense about the surface of Mercury of scientists.
[ad_2]
