Publikationsdatum:
2011-10-01
Beschreibung:
X-ray fluorescence spectra obtained by the MESSENGER spacecraft orbiting Mercury indicate that the planet's surface differs in composition from those of other terrestrial planets. Relatively high Mg/Si and low Al/Si and Ca/Si ratios rule out a lunarlike feldspar-rich crust. The sulfur abundance is at least 10 times higher than that of the silicate portion of Earth or the Moon, and this observation, together with a low surface Fe abundance, supports the view that Mercury formed from highly reduced precursor materials, perhaps akin to enstatite chondrite meteorites or anhydrous cometary dust particles. Low Fe and Ti abundances do not support the proposal that opaque oxides of these elements contribute substantially to Mercury's low and variable surface reflectance.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Nittler, Larry R -- Starr, Richard D -- Weider, Shoshana Z -- McCoy, Timothy J -- Boynton, William V -- Ebel, Denton S -- Ernst, Carolyn M -- Evans, Larry G -- Goldsten, John O -- Hamara, David K -- Lawrence, David J -- McNutt, Ralph L Jr -- Schlemm, Charles E 2nd -- Solomon, Sean C -- Sprague, Ann L -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2011 Sep 30;333(6051):1847-50. doi: 10.1126/science.1211567.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA. lnittler@ciw.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21960623" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Digitale ISSN:
1095-9203
Thema:
Biologie
,
Chemie und Pharmazie
,
Informatik
,
Medizin
,
Allgemeine Naturwissenschaft
,
Physik
Permalink
