Two 'Super Mercury' Exoplanets Found in a Single System - by spacewriter
This artist’s concept shows a five-exoplanet system similar to the one being studied. At HD 23472, however, there are two Super-Mercuries orbiting the star. Courtesy NASA Ames/Kepler/K2 Mission.To get a handle on these rare planets, take a look at our own Mercury. It orbits closest to the Sun. So do these two planets. Structurally, it’s quite dense, as these super-Mercuries are. What we don’t know is their internal structure.
Mercury’s desiccated, overheated appearance is due to its proximity to the Sun. It might have had a more substantial mantle and crust early in its history. But, that likely got blasted off by impacts. Mercury is a rarity even in our own solar system. And, scientists didn’t expect to see many of them around other stars. Yet, they’re out there. Do they have similar interior characteristics to our own Mercury? And, could their histories be similar? Those questions remain to be answered.
Team member Olivier Demangeon explained that understanding how two Super-Mercuries could form in the standard planet-crêche environment also requires more information about the composition of the finished worlds. “As these planets have radii smaller than the Earth, current instrumentation does not have the sensitivity to probe the composition of their surface or the existence and composition of a potential atmosphere,” he said.
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