The Cosmic Controversy Podcast

Episode 19 --- The Trouble With Mercury: Our Solar System's Bizarre Innermost Planet


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Guest Catherine Johnson, a planetary geophysicist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, discusses this bizarre little world; the innermost planet in our solar system.  A planet that’s so close to our Sun that its surface temperatures can hit 800 F.  But surprisingly, its poles harbor enough water ice to completely bury a major metropolis.  Some have even argued that Mercury may have once been habitable.  Where it formed still remains a mystery, but it does have a tiny magnetic field, a very oversized iron core, and one of the largest impact basins in the solar system.  A European mission is currently en route to orbit the planet in 2025. 

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The Cosmic Controversy PodcastBy brucedorminey

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