Water Confirmed On Mercury
presence of ice on the north pole of Mercury.
Temperatures on Mercury can reach 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 degrees Celsius), but around the north pole, in areas permanently shielded from the sun's heat, NASA's Messenger spacecraft found a mix of frozen water and possible organic materials. Evidence of big pockets of ice is visible from a latitude of 85 degrees north up to the pole, with smaller deposits scattered as far away as 65 degrees north. The find is so enticing that NASA will direct Messenger's observation toward that area in the coming months — when the angle of the sun allows — to get a better look, said Gregory Neumann, a Messenger instrument scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland."There is an ongoing campaign, when the spacecraft permits, to look further northward," said Neumann, the lead author of one of three Mercury studies published online Thursday by the journal Science.We're still waiting to hear what the big discovery on Mars might be.