The Mercury Hollows

Author's note: I saw a television show about mercury and how we do not know much about it. Trying to learn more I researched more about mercury, and came up with mercury's hollows.  I am focusing on content and description in this piece. 

 Mercury, a deceased, bombarded planet. What lies beneath the ruined surface?  As it is the closest planet to the sun, it is very difficult to take a peek at what Mercury has to prove. This unusual glimpse of Mercury could lead to a first in the galaxy. The most atypical attribute in the Solar system are the Mercury hollows. 

Mercury consists of two distinct surface geographies, plains and craters.  Hilly plains between the craters are considered what the cratered areas once where before asteroids and space junk trampled the surface. Thousands of miles wide, the craters take up most of the area on the planet.  Recently, the NASA spacecraft MESSENGER provided us with closer, more in depth images of Mercury’s surface. These pictures present new landforms in the deep craters. 

Groups of holes are spotted on the walls and floors of the craters.  The hollows are highly reflective, smooth, and have flat ends. Many astronomers are wondering what these hollows are.  Mercury has changed very little over the last centuries. The hollows in the craters have suddenly come to our surprise.  Scientists discovered that Mars has similar hollows as Mercury, could they be related?

Known to scientist as the Swiss-Cheese terrain, the holes in the ice caps of Mars may be the same creations. On Mars these hollows are formed by carbon dioxide in the form of ice turning directly into a gas. Sublimation on Mars is expected because it is ice. It is interesting that this could be happening on Mercury with a whole different material, rock. 

Another theory of this bizarre formation is Solar wind. The tiny planet, Mercury, has no atmosphere so it is prone to solar wind attacks. The unstable sulfur particles in the surface rock get swept away and cause the rock it came from to crumble. The hollows could be produced from solar wind strikes or even just the heat from the sun. 

Both the solar wind and the sublimation theory have their counter theories. As we anticipate more pictures from MESSENGER, scientists wonder what really the reflective substances are. Do the reflections in the rock show signs of life from the burned out planet? The hollows of Mercury are the most mysterious land creations in the solar system.