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Mar 30, 2011

NASA Spacecraft Snaps 1st Photo of Mercury from Orbit

This story was updated at 5:32 p.m. ET. The first spacecraft ever to circle Mercury has beamed home the first-ever photo taken of the small rocky planet from orbit, showing a stark landscape peppered with craters. NASA's Messenger spacecraft snapped the new Mercury photo today (March 29) at 5:20 a.m....

Mar 31, 2011

Ice on Mercury? NASA Probe May Solve That Mystery and Others

A NASA spacecraft now circling Mercury is set to tackle some big mysteries of the scorched, tiny world – including whether or not water ice lurks in its shadowy craters. NASA's Messenger probe became the first spacecraft ever to orbit Mercury when it arrived at the planet on March 17....

Jun 17, 2011

NASA Spacecraft Reveals Mercury's Surprising 'Personality'

A NASA spacecraft circling Mercury is returning spectacular photos of the planet — and delivering some tantalizing surprises about the tiny, scorched world. On March 17, NASA's Messenger probe became the first spacecraft ever to orbit Mercury. Since then, Messenger has already snapped more than 20,000 pictures and made observations...

Jun 20, 2011

The Greatest Mysteries of Mercury

Each Friday this summer, Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience, presents The Greatest Mysteries of the Cosmos, starting with our solar system. Mercury, by virtue of being the closest planet to the sun, has been notoriously difficult to study over the centuries. Telescopes have to contend with the...

Sep 30, 2011

Planet Mercury Full of Strange Surprises, NASA Spacecraft Reveals

Mercury is not just hellishly hot but apparently covered in brimstone. A vast part of the planet is covered with dried lava – enough to bury the state of Texas under 4 miles of the stuff, scientists say. These and other strange discoveries about Mercury were announced in seven papers...

Dec 6, 2011

Mysterious Planet-Size Object Spotted Near Mercury

On Dec. 1, a camera onboard NASA's STEREO spacecraft recorded a wave of electrically charged material shooting out from the sun and blasting Mercury. Footage of this coronal mass ejection (CME), as such events are called, has caught the attention of alien-hunters, who say it has unveiled a giant, cloaked...

Dec 12, 2011

Asteroid Crash May Explain Mercury's Strange Spin

A collision with an asteroid might have set the planet Mercury whirling oddly in its orbit, a new study suggests. When one body orbits another — say, a moon around a planet or a planet around a star — the orbiting body often spins. Our planet experiences day and night...

Dec 27, 2011

Solar Wind May Explain Planet Mercury's Puny Magnetic Field

The mystery of why Mercury's magnetic field is so weak may just have been solved: It is being stifled by the solar wind, researchers think. Mercury and Earth are the only rocky planets in the solar system to possess global magnetic fields, and for years scientists have puzzled over why...

Mar 21, 2012

Mercury Surprises: Tiny Planet Has Strange Innards and Active Past

The small, sun-scorched planet Mercury has an interior unlike that of any other rocky planet in our solar system and a surprisingly dynamic history, two new studies suggest. Using observations from NASA's Messenger spacecraft in orbit around Mercury, researchers have found that the planet's huge iron core is even larger...

Mar 23, 2012

NASA Extends Missions to Mercury and the Moon

As a NASA spacecraft orbiting the small planet Mercury settles into an extended mission, the space agency announced that a set of twin moon gravity probes will also get some extra science duty. On March 17, the Messenger spacecraft began its second year of science operations at Mercury — a...

Mar 26, 2012

Mercury May Be Hiding Water Ice, NASA Spacecraft Reveals

New evidence from the first probe to orbit Mercury is building support for the idea that the tiny planet may be harboring water ice in some of its most extreme terrain. Certain areas of Mercury's poles were previously found to be bright in radio waves detected by radar measurements from...

Jun 19, 2012

Mercury Craters Look Like Mickey Mouse in NASA Photo

Forget Pluto, a hidden Mickey Mouse lives on Mercury. A NASA spacecraft has captured a spectacular photo of Mercury craters arranged in a shape that looks just like Disney's iconic cartoon mouse. The photo comes from NASA's Messenger spacecraft in orbit around Mercury and shows a giant crater topped with...

Sep 25, 2012

Mercury's Surface Resembles Rare Meteorites

Mercury has a surface unlike any other planet's in the solar system, instead resembling a rare type of meteorite, researchers say. The finding, based on an analysis of data from NASA's Messenger probe, sheds new light on the formation and history of the mysterious innermost planet, scientists add. Mercury, the...

Oct 14, 2012

Mercury Craters Look Like Cookie Monster in NASA Photo

It turns out, 'C' is for crater, and not just cookie. An impact basin spotted on Mercury with two smaller craters above it looks remarkably like the sweet treat-loving Cookie Monster muppet of Sesame Street fame — at least to the eyes of scientists working on NASA's Messenger mission to...

Nov 20, 2012

Mercury Photos Reveal Strange 'Pie Crust' Surface

New photos of the baked planet Mercury, the closest world to our sun, have revealed odd formations that look uncannily like cosmic pies, evidence of potential ghost craters hidden underground, scientists say. The new Mercury photos by NASA's Messenger spacecraft show unusual landscape on the planet's volcanic plains that have...