Ice on Mercury

Exploration. Discovery. Invention. The ideals that lead a people to greatness. The promises for the birth of a new coming. The hope, of one time, forgotten. What ever more present than the great frontier of space. For exploration, discovery, and invention are the forefront of its existence. We live on the planet Earth, a satellite devised of life, of humans. We creatures have spurred from the caves to explore a higher meaning, and when such meaning is discovered we document it. We remember our findings. This is the documentation of one of our findings

One of the most unlikely places to find frozen ice. Being the closest planet to the sun, its surface temperatures can reach above 700° Kelvin (800° Fahrenheit). One Mercury day lasts half of a year on Earth, so the surface is constantly beat with radiation from its close solar neighbor. Nevertheless, Earth based radar imaging of planet has revealed areas of high reflectivity near the north and south poles, indicative of ice caches on the swift planet. Many of these circular shaped areas have been found, they are presumably located in permanently shadowed craters, where no light can reach. This could possibly allow ice to exist over long periods of time.

Using the Arecibo radio telescope and the VLA, astronomers have sent radar signals to Mercury. One specific transmission in 2002 from the VLA at a frequency of 8.15 GHz showed HRR in the Polar Regions. Another such transmission from the Arecibo telescope using and 2.4 GHz, S-band, frequency. After filtering, these images showed HRR with polarization in the northern pole of the planet, but why would patches of HRR indicate ice? Unlike typical silicate rock on mercury, ice is depolarized, and easily distinguishable. Though it might not be as reflective as other objects such as Europa or Ganymede, it is no doubt more reflective than the silicate. These consistent views agree upon ice (or some type of frozen element) to reign upon its surface.

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