Diamonds might be present on mysterious planet Mercury, say Chinese scientists
- Study finds previous research may have overestimated abundance of graphite when other forms of carbon are more likely to be present
- Scientists have long been interested in the geochemistry behind the planet’s unusually dark appearance
The planet Mercury could be hiding a glittering secret behind its unusually dark colour, according to a study by researchers at Sun Yat-sen University in Zhuhai, southern China.
If previous estimates of carbon levels on the planet’s surface were accurate, a substantial portion of the element must be present in other forms, such as tiny diamond particles and amorphous carbon, which has no crystalline structure, they said.
The study, published by the peer-reviewed journal Nature Astronomy on Thursday, was based on previous research in the United States into data collected by Nasa’s Messenger, the first spacecraft to orbit the planet.
Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system, only slightly bigger than the moon. It is also the closest planet to the sun – an average 77 million kilometres (50 million miles) from Earth – and the least studied because it is so difficult to reach.
The Messenger probe took nearly seven years to reach the planet, entering orbit around Mercury in 2011, and ended its mission in 2015.