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Research by MESSENGER Team on Mercury’s Core in Nature News |
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Thursday, 17 April 2008 |
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Photo: JHU/APL
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Research on Mercury’s core by a member of the MESSENGER mission team was highlighted in a 15 April Nature News article entitled “Forecast for the heart of Mercury.” According to the article, a storm of falling iron particles may be circulating liquid in Mercury’s core, a result that may help to explain the origin of the planet’s magnetic field, one that is much weaker than Earth's field. Coauthors to the paper include former DTM and GL fellow Jie Li and former DTM associate and MESSENGER Participating Scientist Steven Hauck.
The large amplitude of Mercury's 88-day forced libration indicates that the planet has a molten core, a liquid layer in which a dynamo similar to the one sustaining Earth’s magnetic field may operate. However, ordinary dynamo models generate magnetic fields several orders of magnitude too strong for what has been observed on Mercury. This new study suggests that, at the right pressures, a mixture of iron and sulphur might create iron "snow" near the outer boundary of the core. This falling snow could continuously mix with the liquid part of the core and drive fluid motions sufficient to sustain a weak dynamo. For more information, see the full article.
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