According to data from the spacecraft MESSENGER, Mercury’s magnet field ranges between 3.7 billion and 3.9 billion year old. This discovery, scientists say, helps to reconstruct the history of the smallest planet in our Solar System. Scientists knew little about Mercury before MESSENGER was launched. NASA’s MESSENGER (a backronym for MErcury Surface Space ENvironment and GEochemistry and Ranging), was an unmanned spacecraft that orbited Mercury from 2011 to HTML1. To study Mercury’s magnetic field, geology and chemical composition, it was launched on a Delta II rocket in August 2004. An illustration of Mercury’s magneticosphere. NASA Image. The spacecraft sent back valuable data to scientists. Researchers from Russia, Canada and the US have published a paper detailing Mercury’s magnetic field. (citation below). The data was obtained from MESSENGER during the fall of 2014, and 2015 at a time when the spacecraft was only 15km away from the surface. The spacecraft was at its lowest altitudes between 200km, and 400km before this time. Catherine Johnson (University of British Columbia, Planetary Scientist) is the lead author. She stated that “The original mission was to last one-year; nobody expected it would go on for four.” These observations have provided some fascinating science. Scientists know that Mercury is subject to a stronger magnetic field than Earth, which is consistent with what scientists already knew. This magnetic field is generated by the movement of liquid iron within its core. The inner solar system has a magnetic field that only Mercury and Earth share. There is evidence that Mars had a magnetic field once, but it disappeared around 3 billion years ago. Mercury’s magnetic fields are super old. When MESSENGER was close to Mercury, the instrument called a magnetometer (an instrument that measures magnetic force) collected data about the magnetic properties of the rocks. These tiny signals revealed that Mercury’s magnetism is very old. It ranges from 3.7bn to 3.9bn year old. Mercury and Earth formed around the same time, about 4.5 billion years ago. Professor Johnson stated that “if we did not have recent observations, it would have been impossible to know how Mercury’s magnet field has evolved through time.” It has been patiently waiting for us to hear its story.” NASA stated that Mercury’s magnetic fields are only 1 percent stronger than Earth’s. Mercury’s magnetic field is connected to Mercury’s magnetic field episodically, creating strong’magnetic tornadoes.’ These tornadoes funnel hot, solar wind plasma to the surface. Science. Published online on 7 May, 2015. DOI: 10. 1126/science.aaa8720.
Mercury’s magnetic fields are nearly four billion years old
