Skip to content
Planetary Formation

29 July 2014 · Wayback

Mercury — iron core remnant

web.archive.org/web/20140729203049/http://www.planetarylifecycle.com/mercury.html

Original wording. Not rewritten as Paper I. Withdrawn claims stay visible so the record is not erased.

Heading on that page: IRON CORE PLANETARY REMNANTS. Line under it: Mercury was Earth-like Over a Billion Years Ago.

“Mercury’s density implies that at least 60% of the planet is a metal-rich core, a figure twice as great as for Earth, Venus, or Mars. To account for about 60% of the planet’s mass, the radius of Mercury’s core must be approximately 75% of the radius of the entire planet.”

MESSENGER-era line kept on the page: Mercury’s core occupies about 85% of the planetary radius, even larger than previous estimates, and radar plus the gravity field indicate the core is at least partially liquid.

The live Mercury page still reads a spent Earth-sized world whose core occupies most of the volume. “Earth-like over a billion years ago” is the 2014 identity sentence, not a measured date.