- RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT
Impacts by space objects have obscured some of the evidence of the planet’s contraction over the past 4.5 billion years.
Mercury’s surface (artificially coloured) is pocked with craters made by comets and meteoroids. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins Univ. Appl. Phys. Lab./Carnegie Inst. Washington/SPL
Mercury, the smallest planet in our Solar System, is contracting as it cools, creating distinctive wrinkles across its surface. Analysis of these features suggests that since the planet formed, its diameter has shrunk by around 23 kilometres1 — a finding that puts fresh constraints on the evolution of Mercury’s interior.
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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02898-3
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