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NASA - MESSENGER Finds New Evidence for Water Ice at Mercury's Poles


Stashed in: The Universe, Awesome, NASA, Water!, Ice!

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Three independent lines of evidence support this conclusion: the first measurements of excess hydrogen at Mercury's north pole with MESSENGER's Neutron Spectrometer, the first measurements of the reflectance of Mercury's polar deposits at near-infrared wavelengths with the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA), and the first detailed models of the surface and near-surface temperatures of Mercury's north polar regions that utilize the actual topography of Mercury's surface measured by the MLA. These findings are presented in three papers published online today in Science Express.

How could there be ice on a planet whose temperature is so hot? 

Well that explains why Mercury songs run so hot and cold...

Mercury meme

Regarding Mercury's spin (from Wikipedia):

"For many years it was thought that Mercury was synchronously tidally locked with the Sun, rotating once for each orbit and always keeping the same face directed towards the Sun, in the same way that the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth. Radar observations in 1965 proved that the planet has a 3:2 spin–orbit resonance, rotating three times for every  two revolutions around the Sun;..."

John, thanks for that explanation!

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