MESSENGER Data Reveal That Mercury’s Inner Core Is Solid
The new findings offer clues about how the solar system formed and how rocky planets change over time.
Mercury Archives - State of the Planet
Exploring Mercury in a New Book
Scientists from NASA’s MESSENGER mission share some of its top discoveries — and lingering mysteries — in a new compendium.
MESSENGER Data Reveal Evidence of Ancient Carbon-Rich Crust on Mercury
Mercury’s dark surface is revealing intriguing new clues about the formation of the solar system, including evidence announced today that the planet closest to the Sun may have formed in part from carbon, a key component of life.
Soon-to-End Mercury Mission May Hold Clues to Earth’s Evolution
NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft has been orbiting Mercury for the last four years, giving scientists an unprecedented look at our solar system’s innermost planet. But now the craft’s fuel supply is exhausted; inexorably drawn in by Mercury’s gravity, it is scheduled to crash in April. Sean Solomon, director of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, has been leading the mission, and in this video, he talks about its implications.
Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science
Sean Solomon, director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and a geophysicist who has spent much of his career studying Earth’s neighboring planets as well as the Earth itself, will receive the National Medal of Science.
Frozen Water on Mercury, NASA Confirms
Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, may hold at least 100 billion tons of ice in permanently shaded craters near its north pole, NASA scientists announced Thursday. The findings come as NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft nears its second year of orbit around Mercury. MESSENGER’s lead investigator, Sean Solomon, is director of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.