Question: Consider the following statement regarding mercury?
(1) It is the smallest planet in the solar system
(2) Mercury has a massive solid inner core
Choose the correct statement/s:
(a) Only(1)
(b) Only(2)
(c) Both (1) and (2)
(d) Neither (1) nor(2)
Answer :(c)
Related facts:
- NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) revealed that Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system has a massive solid inner core.
- The final trip around Mercury before crash-landing in 2015 NASA’s MESSENGER orbited Mercury for around 2011 to 2015.
- According to NASA’s information, both Mercury and the Earth have metallic cores and like Earth, Mercury’s outer core is of liquid metal.
- Mercury’s innermost core which is nearly 85% of Mercury’s volume is solid and it is nearly of the same size as Earth’s inner core.
- The new mission is on its way to Mercury. It is termed BepiColombo and is a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to explore Mercury from 2 unique vantage points.
- BepiColombo is Europe’s 1st mission to Mercury. It was set off in 2018 and on arriving at Mercury in 2025; it will experience temperatures more than 350°C.
About Mercury:
- Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and is also the smallest planet in the solar system.
- It takes Mercury 59 Earth days for rotation and 88 Earth days for revolution.
- MESSENGER (March 18, 2011) was the second mission after Mariner 10’s 1975 flyby to reach Mercury.
Links:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/mercury-has-massive-solid-inner-core
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/908/discovery-alert-a-closer-look-at-mercurys-spin-and-gravity-reveals-the-planets-inner-solid-core/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MESSENGER
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-mercury/en/
http://sci.esa.int/bepicolombo/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BepiColombo