It turns out we may have Mercury’s orbit wrong. Not by much, but by enough that a future mission can measure it, test Albert Einstein’s landmark theory of general relativity, and further refine its mathematics
Thawing permafrost is creating major problems for Alaskan communities, and the situation is poised to get worse as temperatures keep rising. Now scientists have pinpointed a new reason to be concerned about ancient soils coming out of the freezer for the first time in millennia: mercury. Lots and lots of it.
Placed on Earth, it would stretch from Washington DC to New York to Detroit. Larger than the Grand Canyon, wider and deeper than East Africa’s Great Rift Valley, Mercury’s newly-discovered “Great Valley” boggles the imagination. But it’s more than size that makes this geologic feature remarkable. The Great Valley may…
You know you’re old as hell when the only way to find out what young people are doing is to have other old people explain to you what the youths of today are doing, because you don’t actually know anyone young anymore. That’s basically water bottle flipping. If you’ve done it, you’re young (or pretending to be young).…
Our solar system is rife with geologic activity, from eruptive ice moons to mountainous dwarf planets. Still, Earth always held a special place in the hall of geologic fame. It was the only bonafide planet to exhibit tectonic and seismic activity—until now.
I really love this new video from Cody’s Lab about flushing liquid mercury down a toilet because it just gets more and more ridiculous as it goes on.
So you missed Mercury transiting the Sun last month and thought you were going to have to wait another three whole years to see the rare astronomical event? Not at all. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Laboratory was busy shooting the entire thing in 4K, and it just released three glorious highlight reels. Even if you did tune…
There are a lot of good reasons to believe this watch that uses flowing liquid mercury to show the time is fake. A low-quality video, a questionable website, and product shots that look like photocopies of photocopies. But that doesn’t stop us from wanting a watch that looks like the T-1000 strapped to your wrist.
If you tried to to watch Mercury crossing in front of the Sun yesterday, chances are you didn’t get as good a view as NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Mercifully, the space agency has put together a stunning time lapse so you can watch the spectacle again.
It’s been a decade since the last rare but beautiful sighting of Mercury crossing the sun appeared. Today, the event is happening again, and you can watch it happen here between 10:30-11:30 am (EST).
Get ready for a rare astronomical event: Mercury will transit the Sun on Monday, in a spectacle that happens only around 13 times a century.
There’s been dozens of probes that have gone out exploring the solar system since 1959's Luna 2 probe. PopChartLab has gone and noted down each one since in this beautiful poster of the Solar System.
Something about the planet Mercury doesn’t sit right with astronomers: It’s too dark. Darker than the Moon, despite containing way less iron. But at long last, scientists have solved the mystery—and their discovery is shedding light on the fascinating past of the Solar System’s innermost planet.
If this satellite looks a little lonely, that’s because it is. It’s positioned inside the European Space Agency’s Maxwell chamber—which blocks out all electromagnetic radiation and silences every sound. Good preparation for space, then.
Are you awake before dawn? Good. Go outside. Look east. Bask in the astronomical wonder of seeing all the brightest planets out at the same time, pinpricks of worlds drifting up from the horizon. Missed it? Try again any morning for the next month.
David Bowie will live on forever in the outer reaches of our solar system. Since last year, a rock in the main asteroid belt has borne his name—a fitting tribute to the mad, crazy, and wonderful artist.
Fog can be a pain in the ass, but it might also yield more profound problems. At least in California, where researchers have discovered that coastal fog can contain peculiarly large concentrations of mercury.
For centuries people with maladies of any kind could look forward to a good dose of mercury, as the medical establishment had pretty much concluded that shiny things were good for people. This shipwreck made them think again.
All the best-dressed explorers wore glittery spacesuits more suitable to the Silver Surfer than somber NASA astronauts in the early days of the Space Age. These are the helmets, gloves, and boots for the Mercury Seven astronauts.
