The Norman Transcript

Nation/World

Discussion

November 30, 2012

NASA: Closest planet to sun harbors ice

TheAssociated Press Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Just in time for Christmas, scientists have confirmed a vast amount of ice at the north pole — on Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.

The findings are from NASA’s Mercury-orbiting probe, Messenger, and the subject of three scientific papers released Thursday by the journal Science.

The frozen water is located in regions of Mercury’s north pole that always are in shadows, essentially impact craters. It’s believed the south pole harbors ice as well, though there are no hard data to support it.

“If you add it all up, you have on the order of 100 billion to 1 trillion metric tons of ice,” said David Lawrence of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. “The uncertainty on that number is just how deep it goes.”

The ice is thought to be at least 1 1/2 feet deep — and possibly as much as 65 feet deep.

There’s enough polar ice at Mercury to bury an area the size of Washington, D.C., by two to 2 1/2 miles deep, said Lawrence, the lead author of one of the papers.

For two decades, radar measurements taken from Earth have suggested the presence of ice at Mercury’s poles. Now scientists know for sure, thanks to Messenger, the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.

The water almost certainly came from impacting comets, or possibly asteroids. Ice is found at the surface, as well as buried under a dark material.

Messenger was launched in 2004 and went into orbit one-and-a-half years ago around Mercury, where temperatures reach 800 degrees. NASA hopes to continue observations well into next year.

For local news and more, subscribe to The Norman Transcript Smart Edition, or our print edition.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Nation/World
  • Man fatally shot while questioned in Boston probe

    ORLANDO, Fla. — A Chechen immigrant was shot to death by authorities in central Florida early Wednesday after he turned violent while being questioned about his ties to one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, officials said....

    May 23, 2013

  • More tornadoes from global warming? Nobody knows

    A deadly tornado hit suburban Oklahoma City on Monday. A quick look at some basic facts: Q: Is global warming to blame? A: You can’t blame a single weather event on global warming. In any case, scientists just don’t know whether there will ...

    May 22, 2013

  • Tornado season starts late, but starts nonetheless

    TULSA — Deadly tornadoes that have raked communities in Middle America over the past week, including Monday’s massive twister that carved a path of destruction through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, belie what had been a relatively ...

    May 21, 2013

  • Israeli seeks interim deal with Palestinians

    JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s senior coalition partner says that reaching a final peace agreement with the Palestinians is unrealistic at the current time and the sides should instead pursue an interim arrangement....

    May 20, 2013

  • Syrian troops push into town

    BEIRUT — Syrian troops pushed into a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border on Sunday, fighting house-to-house and bombing from the air as President Bashar Assad tried to strengthen his grip on a strategic strip of land running from the ...

    May 20, 2013

  • Fate of Los Angeles marijuana shops left to voters

    LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles politicians have struggled for more than five years to regulate medical marijuana, trying to balance the needs of the sick against neighborhood concerns that pot shops attract crime. Voters will head to the polls ...

    May 20, 2013

  • AP CEO calls seizure unconstitutional

    WASHINGTON — The president and chief executive officer of The Associated Press on Sunday called the government’s secret seizure of two months of reporters’ phone records “unconstitutional” and said the news cooperative had not ruled out ...

    May 20, 2013

  • Obama urged to make economy a bigger topic

    WASHINGTON — Five months into President Barack Obama’s second term, allies and former top aides worry that his overarching goal of economic opportunity has been diminished, partly drowned out by controversies seized upon by Republicans in ...

    May 20, 2013

  • Official: Driver in parade crash likely had medical condition

    DAMASCUS, Va. — Authorities believe the driver who plowed into dozens of hikers marching in a Virginia mountain town parade suffered from a medical condition and did not cause the crash intentionally, an emergency official said Sunday. ...

    May 20, 2013

  • Metro-North: Conn. train outage expected for days

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Tens of thousands of commuters are bracing for a difficult trip around southwest Connecticut and to New York City beginning Monday as workers repair the Metro-North commuter rail line crippled by a derailment and crash....

    May 20, 2013