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--- transportation:space [2026/09/03 01:27] – [Colony] timb
+++ transportation:space [2026/09/10 22:32] (current) – [Mercury] timb
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 https://gizmodo.com/dramatic-video-shows-the-closest-flyby-ever-of-mercury-2000498505
+== Scientists Drastically Underestimated How Much Mercury Has Shrunk ==
+A new estimate of Mercury's shrinkage shows that this planet may have contracted 10% to 30% more than previous research suggested.
+Ellyn Lapointe - September 10, 2026, 9:00 am ET
+Mercury, the littlest planet in our solar system (though Pluto apologists may beg to differ), is getting smaller by the day. In fact, it’s been slowly shriveling up ever since it formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago. A new analysis of its shrinkage, or “radial contraction,” throws earlier estimates into question.
+The findings, published today in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, suggest Mercury has shrunk a whopping 10% to 30% more than previous studies found. The new estimate equates to a loss of roughly 12 miles (19 kilometers) of total diameter since the planet formed.
+“Mercury’s radial contraction provided in previous works has been underestimated because of lack of consideration of recent geologies,” lead author Gaku Nishiyama, a planetary scientist at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Space Research, told Gizmodo in an email. By “recent geologies,” Nishiyama means geologically young impact craters and their ejected debris, which can obscure signs of the planet’s shrinkage.
+“Our study solved this point for the first time by using surface roughness of Mercury [to] successfully estimate how much radial contraction has been missed in previous works,” he explained.
+https://gizmodo.com/scientists-drastically-underestimated-how-much-mercury-has-shrunk-2000808810