A new study disputes the prevailing hypothesis on why Mercury has a big core relative to its mantle (the layer between a planet’s core and crust). For decades, scientists argued that hit-and-run ...

One of the biggest arguments about the inner solar system among astronomers and scientists is why exactly Mercury has such a massive iron core. The prevailing theory is that collisions with other ...

Mercury’s disproportionately massive core may be the result of the Sun’s powerful magnetic influence rather than the consequence of a cataclysmic collision with another body in the ancient past, ...

The early years of our solar system were a period of unimaginable chaos and violence, a gravitational free-for-all where colliding planetary embryos competed for survival. In this tumultuous ...

In brief: Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system and has always been a mystery due to its dark surface and high core density. However, astronomers have long known that its surface contains ...

A new study disputes the prevailing hypothesis on why Mercury has a big core relative to its mantle (the layer between a planet’s core and crust). For decades, scientists argued that hit-and-run ...

Researchers working with high-precision planetary radars, including the Goldstone Solar System Radar of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., have discovered strong evidence that the ...

Mercury, Venus, and Mars sit within the same general neighborhood as Earth, yet each has followed a radically different path.

Mercury likely has a partly molten core, a new study indicates. This molten material may be generating the planet’s weak magnetic field, whose existence has been a puzzle since its discovery more than ...

New research from the University of Maryland shows that proximity to the sun's magnetic field determines a planet's interior composition A new study disputes the prevailing hypothesis on why Mercury ...

Scientists from Tohoku University and the University of Maryland have pinpointed the strong magnetic field of the early sun as the reason behind the radial variation of rock and metal in rocky planets ...