Useless Factsspace
Mercury has permanent ice at its poles despite being the closest planet to the Sun
🤷 This changes nothingFact Battle
Mercury has almost no atmosphere and a very slow rotation (one Mercury day = 176 Earth days). This means its poles are in near-permanent shadow, where temperatures never rise above -170°C. Water ice, possibly delivered by comets billions of years ago, has been confirmed by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft sitting in these permanently shadowed craters. The planet nearest the Sun contains ice that has lasted billions of years.
Why this is surprising
The planet with surface temperatures reaching 430°C in sunlight has ice that has survived for billions of years just a few kilometres away in permanent shadow.
Share this fact
“Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, has permanent ice at its poles. Proximity to a star means less than you think.”
Down the rabbit hole
spaceA day on Venus is longer than a year on VenusspaceThe light hitting your skin right now left the Sun 8 minutes agospaceA teaspoon of neutron star material would weigh 10 million tonsspaceAstronauts report that outer space smells like seared steak and hot metalspaceThe Moon is slowly drifting away from Earth — about 3.8 cm per year