In:
Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Vol. 336, No. 6078 ( 2012-04-13), p. 214-217
Kurzfassung:
Radio tracking of the MESSENGER spacecraft has provided a model of Mercury’s gravity field. In the northern hemisphere, several large gravity anomalies, including candidate mass concentrations (mascons), exceed 100 milli-Galileos (mgal). Mercury’s northern hemisphere crust is thicker at low latitudes and thinner in the polar region and shows evidence for thinning beneath some impact basins. The low-degree gravity field, combined with planetary spin parameters, yields the moment of inertia C / MR 2 = 0.353 ± 0.017, where M and R are Mercury’s mass and radius, and a ratio of the moment of inertia of Mercury’s solid outer shell to that of the planet of C m / C = 0.452 ± 0.035. A model for Mercury’s radial density distribution consistent with these results includes a solid silicate crust and mantle overlying a solid iron-sulfide layer and an iron-rich liquid outer core and perhaps a solid inner core.
Materialart:
Online-Ressource
ISSN:
0036-8075
,
1095-9203
DOI:
10.1126/science.1218809
Sprache:
Englisch
Verlag:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Publikationsdatum:
2012
ZDB Id:
128410-1
ZDB Id:
2066996-3
ZDB Id:
2060783-0
SSG:
11
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