CURRENT AFFAIRS

2019

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
Which space agency has revealed that Mercury has a massive solid inner core?
A
NASA
B
CNES
C
ISRO
D
JAXA
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Now, in a new study, scientists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland have found evidence that Mercury’s inner core is indeed solid and that it is very nearly the same size as Earth’s inner core.

Detailed explanation-2: -NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft orbited Mercury for more than four years. Among its accomplishments, the mission determined Mercury’s surface composition, revealed its geological history, discovered details about its internal magnetic field, and verified its polar deposits are dominantly water-ice.

Detailed explanation-3: -Big heart. Measurements of gravity anomalies within Mercury suggest that the planet’s solid inner core makes up about half of the total core. The entire core is about 85 percent of the planet. Of the rocky planets, only Earth and Mercury still have magnetic fields generated by their cores.

Detailed explanation-4: -As Mariner 10 approached Mercury, photos began to show a very Moon-like surface with craters, ridges and chaotic terrain. The spacecraft’s magnetometers revealed a weak magnetic field.

Detailed explanation-5: -Mercury is one of the five classical planets visible with the naked eye and is named after the swift-footed Roman messenger god. It is not known exactly when the planet was first discovered - although it was first observed through telescopes in the seventeenth century by astronomers Galileo Galilei and Thomas Harriot.

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