Mercury’s Shrinking

Top 10 Solar System Anomalies

Mercury’s Shrinking (Top 10 Solar System Anomalies)

Mercury’s Shrinking: Mercury appears to be shrinking as its interior cools. This causes the planet's surface to wrinkle like a raisin, creating cliff-like landforms known as scarps, which indicate a more complex geological history than previously thought.

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Stella - August 25, 2025TOP

Mercury is gradually shrinking as its massive iron core cools and contracts over billions of years. This process has created long, cliff-like faults called lobate scarps that crisscross its surface. The planet has decreased in radius by kilometers, a significant amount for a world not much larger than our moon. This ongoing contraction reveals a surprisingly dynamic geological history for what was once thought to be a geologically dead world.

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