Journal
ELEMENTS
Volume 15, Issue 1, Pages 21-26Publisher
MINERALOGICAL SOC AMER
DOI: 10.2138/gselements.15.1.21
Keywords
Mercury; MESSENGER mission; internal structure; magnetic field; metallic core
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Funding
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- NASA Solar System Workings Program grant [NNX15AH31G]
- NASA [804328, NNX15AH31G] Funding Source: Federal RePORTER
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NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft orbited Mercury from 2011 to 2015 and has provided new insights into the interior of the innermost planet. Mercury has a large metallic core similar to 2,000 km in radius covered by a thin layer of rock only similar to 420 km thick. Furthermore, a surprisingly large fraction of this outer layer was produced by melting of deeper rocks, forming a light crust similar to 35 km thick. The core is now known to produce a magnetic field that has intriguing similarities and differences compared to Earth's field. Some rocks near the surface are magnetized, and the strongest magnetizations are likely to be >3.5 billion years old. This new understanding of Mercury's interior is helping reveal how rocky planets operate.
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