Analysis of the data collected by the Messenger probe on its last flight around Mercury has revealed that on the planet closest to the Sun there are signs of intense explosive volcanic activity throughout its history , as well as very powerful magnetic storms.
This is revealed by three studies published today in the journal Science . "We are learning that Mercury is an extremely dynamic planet, and that it has always been so," explains researcher Sean Solomon, who hopes to find new "surprises" when the probe flies over the planet next year, in March.
The latest flight of the probe has also provided information on magnetic substorms on the neighboring planet . These occur intermittently on Earth, usually several times a day, last one to three hours, and are accompanied by phenomena such as the beautiful northern lights that appear in the skies of the Arctic and Antarctica. On Mercury, as the Messenger's magnetometer has been able to measure, the increases in magnetic energy during one of these substorms are up to ten times greater than on Earth, and the substorms up to fifty times faster.
