Solar System

A new analysis combining data from NASA’s MESSENGER mission and the European BepiColombo probe shows Mercury is shrinking far faster than scientists had previously believed, with global contraction leaving visible fault scarps across the planet’s surface. Researchers say the rate of cooling and contraction carries major implications for understanding the thermal evolution of small rocky planets, the durability of their magnetic fields, and the broader geological history of the inner solar system. The findings also raise fresh questions about how Mercury has retained a magnetic field despite being a small planet with a slowly solidifying inner core, a long-standing puzzle in comparative planetology.

Scientists detect an unexpected atmosphere on a small icy body beyond Pluto, challenging models of how atmospheres form on distant solar system objects.

Astronomers have found evidence suggesting a mysterious object beyond Pluto in the Kuiper Belt may possess an atmosphere, potentially reshaping understanding of distant solar system bodies.

Astronomers believe they have detected an atmosphere around a small icy world beyond Pluto for the first time, a finding that could reshape our understanding of objects at the edge of the solar system.