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Polar Craters

All articles tagged with #polar craters

sciencespace2 hours ago•11 min saved

Mercury’s permanently shadowed polar floors cradle water ice, revealed by MESSENGER data

Mercury’s cold polar crater floors hold water ice on permanently shadowed terrain, a conclusion supported by MESSENGER (2012) via radar-bright deposits, a hydrogen signal from neutron measurements, exposed versus buried ice seen in laser altimetry, and thermal models. Ice can be exposed in some areas and buried under a thin, dark cover in others; deposits may range from metres to tens of metres thick, and their age and origin remain topics of study, with delivery likely from comets/asteroids over hundreds of millions of years. The upcoming BepiColombo mission will map these regions in greater detail but will not land in the cold traps.

via Space Daily|

#mercury #messenger #polar-craters

astronomy2 years ago•5 min saved

Uncovering the Origins of Ceres' Young Cold Traps

Scientists have discovered extremely young ice deposits in permanently shadowed craters near the poles of the asteroid Ceres, shedding light on its history. Research suggests that these ice deposits formed within the last 6,000 years, making them remarkably young compared to Ceres's age of over 4 billion years. The study also explores the possibility of other types of ices being trapped in these craters and reveals that Ceres's polar craters are cold enough to retain water ice but too warm to retain other common types of ice.

via Phys.org|

#asteroid #astronomy #ceres