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View Full Version : News: Mercury hides a monster impact



Nyrath
May 5th, '09, 07:37 AM
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/05/03/mercury-hides-a-monster-impact/

"How the heck do you hide a terrifyingly huge impact basin easily big enough to stretch from San Francisco to Los Angeles?"

"Easy. Put it on Mercury."

What caused this impact crater?

An ancient alien battlecruiser colliding with Mercury? (and is it still there, buried under the surface, just waiting for some adventurers to stumble on the entrance?)

How about the asteroid-cell of some imprisoned Cthulhu-like eldar space god? (and is it still there, buried under the surface, just waiting for some foolhardy adventurers to fail to decipher the "DO NOT OPEN!" alien inscription on the door?)

What if it was just an asteroid colliding with Mercury, which is the only known way of creating large deposits of priceless Unobtanium ore?

Clonus
May 5th, '09, 08:06 AM
It's a thumbprint.

L. Marcus
May 5th, '09, 08:07 AM
God missed the corner pocket.

Cancer
May 5th, '09, 09:24 AM
I'm going with L. Marcus's suggestion. Something falling into the Sun from infinity would hit Mercury at roughly 68 km/s if the latter blundered into the way. Make whatever it was about a hundred km across, and that'll make a nice continental-size hole and depress the cr*p out of local property values.

EvilDrPuma
May 5th, '09, 06:31 PM
That was me. One too many bean burritos. Sorry.

Sundog
May 5th, '09, 06:44 PM
C-fractional strike on enemy base: successful.

Ian Mackinder
May 6th, '09, 04:56 AM
Interesting. Must have been quite a wallop when it hit - I wonder if it had anything to do with the unusual rotation that Mercury now has?

Sundog
May 6th, '09, 08:44 AM
Yes, it does. The mass imbalance caused by the crater makes it tidally stable at a 2:3 revolution to rotation rate.

Steve Long
May 7th, '09, 03:38 AM
Fascinating. Thanx for the post, Nyrath!

Nyrath
May 7th, '09, 06:42 AM
Fascinating. Thanx for the post, Nyrath!
You're welcome!


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http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/messengermercury/