Meteorites from Mercury? |
Meteorites from Mercury? |
Guest_Enceladus75_* |
Oct 28 2008, 07:09 PM
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#1
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Guests |
I see in the current issue of Astronomy magazine (November 2008) that there is a very interesting article about a class of meteorites that are theorised to have possibly originated on Mercury. We now know of meteorites that came from the Moon and Mars, and there might also be some from Venus, but I think that it is fascinating that we may have, right here on Earth, pieces of the innermost planet at hand.
Would it take a sample return mission from Mercury to prove these meteorites came from the planet or could the Messeneger results in the coming years clinch the question? What do others think? |
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Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Oct 29 2008, 09:01 AM
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#2
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Guests |
Intrigued I started an Internet search and came up with “Sky & Telescope” article:
Free rock samples from the first rock from the Sun? Past studies assumed that rocks knocked off Mercury weren't getting away with much more than its escape velocity of 2.6 miles (4.2 km) per second. That's too slow to climb away from the Sun and make it out to Earth. Mercury, the Sun's innermost planet speeds through space with a mean velocity of 48 km per second. Furthermore, impactors (comets & asteroids) travel fast and could strike the planet at speeds 5 to 15 times its escape velocity, and ejecta can rocket off the surface traveling much faster than had been assumed… But I can hardly believe it |
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