Pieces of (the Planet) Mercury Found in Virtual Collision

[On the Road]

Some 4.5 billion years ago, according to one theory, a giant asteroid collided with an even larger object, creating Mercury and shooting debris into space.

With the aid of new computer simulations, scientists have examined this apparent collision to suggest why the closest planet to the Sun is denser than anticipated and how some of the impact debris ended up on Earth and Venus. Pluto and it’s (sic) moons are also thought to have been created by an impact, as was Earth’s Moon.

In Mercury’s case, the idea of a collision was spawned by the fact that the rocky world contains more metal than expected for its size. And until these simulations, "we were not sure why so little of the planet's outer layers fell back in and reattached following the impact," said Jonti Horner of Physikalisches Institut in Bern, Switzerland.

---snip

"The results we obtained show that a giant impact could explain the Mercury we see today," Horner told SPACE.com. "They also highlight the fact that material can be passed between the planets—we already know of meteorites which came from Mars, but none have yet been found which came from Mercury."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060405/sc_space/piecesofmercuryfoundinvirtualcollision

Space.com Article 1: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060111_hit_and_run.html
Space.com Article 2:http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/shrinking_mercury_040816.html



I had no idea astronomers could do this. I guess it's the next logical step in computer modeling of the solar system -- working backwards to figure out what combination of forces could account for the planets and their current composition and orbits.

[brooklynite]

1. Well now, that's an interesting THEORY...

but don't you think our impressionable students should be taught ALL the possible causes???

[DUHandle]

2. Nice handle

That was the first of his books that I read, a very enjoyable author.