BALTIMORE — New research from NASA suggests that Mercury is shrinking and experiences seismic activity, joining Earth as the solar system’s other tectonically active planet.
Prior to crashing on Mercury, NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft photographed the planet’s surface for the 18 months, reported Space.com, and found long cliffs. These cliffs, or scarps, suggests Mercury may experience seismic activity.
The researchers expect that seismic activity on Mercury is similar to the moon’s. The moon is a natural satellite, not a planet.
According to Space.com, the planet is still hot enough to keep contracting and have a molten outer core. That same core has helped sustain Mercury’s magnetic field for billions of years.
The findings, published in the October issue of Nature Geoscience, was managed by the John Hopkins University Physics Laboratory and funded by NASA.
