Can I just say, as a PhD student in space physics, I'm so happy you went into detail about Mercury's magnetosphere and nightside reconnection. A lot of times this is glossed over because surface features and photos are much prettier or fascinating, but this is an important part of a planet's evolution!
I remember an Asimov story related to Mercury. The whole drama was some spacemen trying to get away from the scorched heat as the dawn was closing after an accident. In the commentary of the book, written years later, he apologized because "at the time we didn't know mercury was tidal lockedto the sun" ... Almost 30 years later his original story was vindicated!
For people who are curious about how much 1 quadrillion kilograms of water is (and who are familiar with the Great Lakes), it's about 1/2 the water in Lake Ontario, or about 10% of the water in Lake Superior.
Kim Stanley Robinson wrote several stories and books of a city on Mercury called Terminator. The one I read was 2312. The city stays in the twilight region and travels on rails that expand behind it from the Sun's heat. Fascinating read!
I find it ironically humorous that the 2 most insignificant and apparently unimpressive solar satellites; Pluto and Mercury, turn out to be the most interesting and intriguing!
I did some research on Omaze and found that the most that they give to a charity is 15% of what Omaze collects. The other 85% they keep for themselves. By any standard, if they were the actual charity, that would be considered fraud. If you want you money to do the most it can do, stop being greedy and donate your money directly to the charity so they get 100% of your donation.
Couldn't say it better myself. Not to mention the miniscule chance of winning the raffle. That in combination with the pay-to-enter structure reminds me a lot of the lottery. You have to pay to enter and your chance of winning is practically nonexistent. You're reassured that the revenue from the lottery is being put towards a good cause, but in reality a small piece of the money earned is actually being used for good purposes.
@Barzing barzoo As churches in the US never have to open their books for an audit, you still have no idea where the money goes, simply their word that it's assisting.
In the mid 1800's it was found that the precession of Mercury's orbit could not be explained completely by Newton's law. This was very puzzling until the phenomenon was explained by relativity. Thus, Mercury helped to establish confidence in relativity.
I think it's funny when scientists are wrong for centuries, then say "by complete coincidence, this incredibly rare thing is actually what's happening".
I am so happy to see this channel grow. I am here since beginning and i am happy to see Alex churn quality videos time after time. Thank you for educating us “casual nerds” who always learn something new in every video. Thank you Alex McColgan! Go support him on Patreon.
I myself am completely capable of such, but I'm just too lazy. So... 1) Never confuse lack of application with lack of ability. 2) Appreciate more the effort and desire that it takes to do such.... because those are far more important characteristics than capability.
@@sunnyjim1355 If you're capable but laziness is what's holding you back then you're not really capable are you? Anyone might be capable to achieve whatever the hell they want but if they don't have the energy to get it done then they achieved nothing at the end of the day.
This fascinating video really made Mercury "come alive" for me too. The details of the 3:2 resonance orbit proving Mercury rotates and the effects of the eccentric orbit are worthy subjects. As always, I really appreciate labeling every frame as either GCI or actual probe video - both elucidate understanding and yield a more accurate picture of Mercury. Another superb effort Alex.
This is one of my favorite channels. I've learned more on this channel than the astronomy class I'm currently taking. Although I do appreciate his ( my professor) method of teaching, it's hard to stay focused and I LOVE anything relating to space. So thank you for being my personal cliff notes as I struggle through this semester. And it's an elective.😩
I would love to see a drone mission being sent in one of the craters to explore the contents of those regions with water. Finding out what type of soil Mercury would have in the areas with water, if there are any life that could have formed in the shadow.
I was definitely one to, mostly, shrug Mercury off. And so, I was among the many who didn’t know anything about this mission or its findings. Mercury is sort of the black sheep in the planetary family. Venus and Mars, our terrestrial sister and brother planets, respectively. Sequentially, these siblings have stood by our side, keeping us intrigued with the possibilities of new life or a new home. Beyond the main asteroid belt, our extended family, the gas giants. Jupiter captivates with its size and unceasing red storm larger than Earth, itself. Saturn surrounded by breathtaking rings. Uranus and it’s axis so incredibly askew. Distant, deep blue Neptune, it and Uranus dancing their orbital tango, spanning centuries. Thank you for sharing this reminder that Mercury does have its own wonders to share. I look forward to 2025.
I really liked this comment. Poetic, and also totally true. It's also funny to realize, in my case thanks to CGP Grey, that Mercury is the most-closest planet... to every planet, if you take into account orbital periods and such. It's a fun vid and i'd recommend it. But all in all, Mercury is thought of very little and i'm thankful that NASA is taking the effort to research it as they would any other planet, especially given the unique challenge of getting a probe to orbit such a small planet, so close to the sun. I don't know what all the practical uses for this research could be, besides a possible base of operations for any future dyson swarm project, but the data coming out of these missions has been fascinating.
Mercury has always been the quiet one in the group. She supports her friends and stands as a shield to protect our moon Princess. I'm sure she takes no offense.
How dare you assume the genders of Venus and Mercury. That is such antiquated thinking. Please join us in the 21st century, where planets get to decide their own genders, and aren’t subject to your barbaric precepts.
I don't know about you lot, but when ads interrupt a video like this (mid sentence too!) I find myself hating and despising the brands that do so. When will the advertisers realise this?
A little trick - immediately scroll the progress bar to the end, and click the replay button. On your "second watch", the ads will no longer be present.
Thank you so much for your videos alex, you are one of the few youtubers in the space communit with really well researched and explained videos, thanks for not dumbing them down like alot of other channels do
The discovery that Mercury is not tidally locked to the Sun dashes any hopes of setting up one or more gigantic heliostats on Mercury that can provide continuous energy to do stuff, such as manufacturing space alloys. (This was what many hard-SF stories assumed, for instance, "Rendezvous with Rama")
It could still kinda work. Cover part of the planet with photovoltaics and make the other part a giant solar powered batch smelter. Melt stuff during the day and let it cool and chop it into pieces at night.
Marvelous content, well-read, alluring cadence... I trust the info you post as being reputable and fair. Quite an achievement in the sensory overload of so many folks trying to promote ideas that are bereft of accurate information. Your ideas are clear, the data you share seems authentic, and your demeaner is appealing. Nicely done.
Forgive me if this is not appropriate to mention. I feel confident that in your research that NASA;s Mercury mission was Mariner. Here in the U..S. I remember the TV and radio newscasts pronouncing it with the first syllable accented.. MAR-iner, a long A as in Mary. If my memories of my distant youth have made an error, please accept my sincere apology. Before too long this sentient stardust will cease firing neural pathways altogether, it has been an exhilarating journey.
Question: Is the "1 percent" of the magnetic field of the Earths...is that a straight up comparison, or in proportion...as Mercury is significantly smaller than Earth?
6:30 - 7:00 So, taking all this into account, and that Mercury has quite a bit higher density than the other Solar system's other 'terrestrial planets' (indeed, it's thought that it might once have had an outer rocky layer than has been smashed off - perhaps accounting for it's more elliptical orbit?). Well, how about this as a hypothesis...? It has been noted that 'super Earths' are quite common in other star systems, yet ours has none. What if Mercury is the core of such a super-earth that once orbited where the asteroid belt now resides, and which is itself the smashed off layer of Mercury's previous form? Maybe Mars was initially a moon of this super-Earth? Or instead maybe two Earth sized planets collided in that orbital space? Just thoughts.... although I'm sure such scenarios have already been considered already, right?
@@occamsrayzor true but how long does time have to pass for that material to completely dissipate or be pulled by other bodies. Or be kicked out due to the initial impact; two planets colliding is a lot of energy. But its almost impossible to know we would need physical samples of Mercury and multiple samples from the belt and Ort cloud. Its like an episode of planetary CSI 🤔🤣
To think that scientists have studied Mercury completely until new data pops out. This only shows that there are so many things to learn from the planets of the Solar System
Ours as well. As we explore space let's remember to also continue exploring our home, especially in the ocean, under the ice and underground. Heck we're now gonna explore oceans under the ice of one of Jupiter's moons. What a time to be alive.
@@livingcorpse5664 true. I've read someone said it is to late to explore earth, to soon to explore universe, but it's in time to begin explore everything
@@alphagt62 There is one form of science which IS settled, of course, and that's climate science. It's a new form of science in which pressure from the media, pressure from one's employer, and computer models based on incomplete data and vast, poorly understood systems are combined to give predictions which are agreed upon by all scientists. Reputable media sources all say this. A few denier scientists keep citing OLD climate predictions and saying they didn't come true. Well, duh, that's because those are OLD predictions, and science has moved on since then. Our new predictions agree with theory better than before. As an example of how science is always getting closer to the truth, we now know that "carbon" is slowly killing life on earth. Plants may use "carbon" to photosynthesise, but humans and animals aren't plants and we would be better off without carbon (or is it carbon dioxide? I'm a bit hazy about that now). If necessary we could probably get the scientists to design a new gas that wouldn't be as harmful as CO2. Photosynthesis pales in comparison with the importance of our climate. If the temperature rose just 2 degrees, which is often less than the difference between one summer's day and the next, entire ecosystems would collapse.
I made a slab of neutron detecting glass that was built into one of the modules made by John Hopkins uni (if I remember correctly) . I watched its progress , fascinating. Part of my work is now embeded into Mercury :-)
Mercury is pretty neat. Everybody is taken with Mars though. I don't know why, I'm much, much, much more interested in Luna. Our moon is going to be our gateway to the solar system, and building a colony there needs to be the first step to expanding off the planet. My next favorite is Saturn. Such a beautiful and mysterious place.
@@AnalyticalReckoner I on the other hand don't want to see our own orbit go out of control and would prefer not to fuck with the balance of nature so drastically, so I'd vote for NOT altering the orbit of the moon.
@@AnalyticalReckoner bro, who said anything about altering lunar orbit? We don't have the capability to do that, and likely won't gain that capability before we most likely all kill each other off. By "gateway to the solar system", Corto means that because of a few key factors -- lunar gravity is ~1/6 that of Earth's, the moon sits significantly higher in Earth's gravity well than the surface of Earth does, and the moon has surface deposits that could be useful for powering spaceflight, e.g. water ice -- if we ever intend to send more than small, individual, unmanned missions beyond Earth's gravity well to places like Mars or further afield, we need to establish infrastructure on the moon to use it as a waypoint in those journeys. A direct trip from the surface of Earth isn't practical because of the enormous fuel requirements. An eventual manned trip to Mars, for example, might look something like: ride launch vehicle to infrastructure in Earth orbit; in Earth orbit, refuel launch vehicle or transfer to Earth-Luna transporter vehicle for trip to Luna; rendezvous with lunar orbital station or land at surface facilities; refuel or transfer vehicles again in preparation for interplanetary cruise phase of mission; launch interplanetary cruise from lunar surface or orbit; arrive in orbit above target body, e.g. Mars. Personally, I think we're jumping the gun with talk of manned missions to Luna and Mars at this point. We need to leverage artificial intelligence to build the required off-world infrastructure with semi-autonomous unmanned trailblazer missions. That's how we bootstrap our way into the solar system. Sending humans beyond low Earth orbit right now is just a hubristic boondoggle, much as maned moon missions of the 20th century were, now even moreso given our greatly improved ability to perform scientific study remotely.
@@robertwilliams2850 they don't have to ;) but i will give it a try: in short pluto has been recategorized to dwarf planet mainly because it's not able to clear it's own orbit of space debris. there are other reasons, too. if you are interested in finding out why you want pluto to be a planet, ask yourself if ceres, eris and charon are planets. they all share a lot more between themselves than with the no-prefix-planets.
@@robertwilliams2850 that moment when you discover we were up to 15 planets before we reversed course and a half dozen hit the chopping block but everyone only pays any attention to Pluto.
Wow! I had always believed the story that Mercury was just a molten ball created by it's closeness to the sun. I never imagined that it even really had a surface you could see. I have to admit I'm having a very hard time imagining ice pockets there, how did the water maintain it's atoms long enough in that fierce solar wind as well as being in exactly the right place to drop down into those craters and freeze? Now, I'm amazed and fascinated by this tiny planet and can't wait to learn more when the next mission arrives there. Thank you ever so much for stretching my mind out to our littlest neighbor.
Wonderful video -- right up until the 13 minute, 4 second mark -- informative, lively and filled with crucial info largely overlooked, even by science lovers.
Alex! While watching this presentation my curiousity started creeping into getting concern about your health! Because I was observing as you were struggling to maintain your voice during the in-between parts of the video! I hope you are fine and in good health! Be blessed a fan and an admirer from Pakistan!
Also the potassium. Mercury has so much potassium that dinosaurs could never survive. It's like if they tried survived on top of a giant banana. Too much potassium.
Yes, Mercury's coincidental double rotation to one revolution is kind of like the coincidental moon to sun ratio, which is the sun being 400 times the distance of the moon to Earth, and 400 times the diameter, making a perfect lock and key eclipse. Of course, it seems more plausible to me that these "coincidences" are intentional design.
5:20 Other then "because the highly ordered model says so" What makes you think that those are reconnection events.? The effect we see on magneticfilm are just like densities, But the highly dynamic nature of those density layers make it appear more like aerodynamics instead of some highly ordered reconnecting density spheres surface lines.
We have enough experience studying planetary magnetism to know that that's how it works. Granted, the model used to visualize it in this video oversimplifies it. But we know it happens and how to detect its proxies.
In my graduate courses, I learnt that Curie law of magnetism predicts that as temperature increases, its magnetic properties fade away. How can a metalic molten core still sustain a magnetic field? Would the magnetism of a hot metal depends on the chemical composition of the core??
maybe its just much more magnetic than hot? idk, what youre even talking about tho, so you know my level of physics education :D maybe theres a difference for permanent and electro magnets, i mean a cold electro magnet wouldnt even be magnetic right? because the energy that makes it magnetic produces heat.
Non-standard pressures probably violate the supposed "law" you were taught about with no regard for intense pressures forcing molecules into aberrant and magnetic arrangements. The Sony minidisc records using a focused laser to heat it's material during the flux change varying as the music does. This is a substance that violates Curie's test bench in the opposite flip. It remembers the flux when heated and is unaffected by anything happening at colder temps. So you were not taught the entire truth of a "law" that has these loopholes large enough to drive a truck through. The folly of man is believing things that just aren't so, welcome to the club of hooman.
@@leebarnes655 Your video title is correct: Mercury Discoveries No-one Expected. In 1492 C Columbus thought he had reached the indies, so he said. Is that the truth or an hypothesis?. "So you were not taught the entire truth of a "law". Are you telling me that facts observed are the real truth? Who has the true explanation of gravity: Newton's law or Einstein's curvature of space? What is the true explanation of magnetism? That is my point.
@@vperez4796 I don't have any video. Your point is buried at the tail end of a reply which means you will fail to get your point across quite often if you don't get it out there first and foremost. AND I wasted my time thinking I was helping someone lost because of the pitfalls of higher education. Descartes I think, therefore I am Shakespeare to be or not to be Sinatra Shoo be do be do be do
I think the view I would most like to see is on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. It's the only other body we know of (other than Earth) that has an atmosphere that can maintain a system whereby a chemical compound can exist in the three basic states - solid, liquid and gas. On Titan that's not water, but ethane/methane. So that means it rains on Titan, but because the surface gravity is much lower than on Earth, the 'rain drops' (it's been estimated) would be the size of golf balls but would float down like we observe snowflakes. That would be so beautiful to see, imo.
Great video! Just a note on the pronunciation of the Mariner missions. It's pronounced like the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" or as in sub-Mariners, not like the boat at the marina. The i is short.
What are the odds we just kept taking a photo at the same time of a Mercury day over and over and over again? Cool to know that the planet isn't tidally locked. Makes you wonder what other misconceptions are waiting to be debunked!
To be fair it wasn't a coincidence that was the only time we looked since there is a limited window in our orbit around the Sun you could observe the planet with a telescope without looking directly at the Sun. Telescopes and sunlight don't generally mix very well at least not without special solar filters and even then dim Mercury would be virtually invisible compared to the blindingly bright Sun. You need a Coronagraph to be able to really get a good look Mercury at any other time. Now why the period of mercury's day and our observation window happen to be an exact integer ratio is more difficult to answer for sure, but given that the tidal effects of Venus Earth and Jupiter on Mercury are not negligible tidal effects may have played a critical role in this. Recent work suggests that an 11 year alignment between Venus Earth and Jupiter inducing tidal effects on the Sun appears to be a promising candidate for driving the abnormally regular magnetic reversals of the Sun. If such tides are significant enough to effect the sun what effect might happen if Earth wasn't at some integer multiple alignment towards the length of a day on Mercury since remember Mercury is in a spin orbit resonance which is controlled by tides. In fact thinking about it if Mercury wasn't aligned at an integer ratio it would be possible for Mercury to align at aphelion with respect to this 11 year resonance. This would raises the real possibility that should Mercury's orbital eccentricity would be increased. Over multiple such encounters Mercury could continue having eccentricity boosting tidal interactions as its orbit lined up with these 3 planets which would then incrementally increase the planets eccentricity even more as the planet would be further from the Sun at aphelion. This could set off a positive feedback loop further boosting eccentricity every time the planets aligned to boost Mercury tidally which would end in 1 of 3 outcomes if the feedback loop wasn't broken through a destructive resonance.The first possibility would be that Mercury's perihelion would drag the planet's closest approach into the atmosphere of the Sun where further heat and dynamical friction would take over to drag the planet into the Sum. The second and third possibilities are that Mercury's aphelion may increase untill the planet's orbit begins o intersect with the orbit of Venus either resulting in the ejection of Mercury from its orbit and ensuing chaos or worse lead to a collision between Mercury and Venus destroying both planets and creating an enormous collisional cascade that would invariably have the potential to destroy the Earth as they formed a new inner asteroid belt. Thus far this doomsday alignment has not occurred yet which may in some way be linked to this seeming coincidence. If it isn't directly related then that would be a bit scary as research indicated that barring some preventive resonance there is otherwise a 1% chance per billion years for Mercury to end up in this alignment either resulting in the destruction and or ejection of one or more of the inner planets in a myriad of chaotic scenarios which all ultimately would doom life on Earth. Basically it may be down to luck but also potentially the anthropic principal in the case there is a tidal link since naturally if we weren't oriented such that we couldn't align with Mercury in a way that would destabilize its orbit there would be no Earth our planet having been reduced to rubble billions of years ago thus naturally there being no one to observe Mercury. One of the alarming discoveries is that the solar system is chaotic and precariously balanced primarily because of Mercury's eccentric orbit.
It’s really strange how all of the things that disprove the evolutionary protoplanetary disk theories never seems to penetrate into the academic world.
Exactly! Like the fact that Mercury should have lost all its volatiles if it was really millions/billions of years old. Quote: "Hydrogen and helium which cannot be there" Yet they are! And instead of coming to the obvious conclusion that maybe there hasn't been time... Similar problems for other planets and moons. Tidal forces etc aren't nearly enough to account for phenomena like Enceladus' geysers for example. Or the strength of some of the magnetic fields.
@@jeannetteparry5587 Do you know what solar wind is? Hydrogen and helium ions, and to a much lesser extent, other lightweight ions ("light" meaning sub-iron, much of which might be called "volatiles"). By the inverse square law, the density of solar wind at Mercurian orbit is about 7 times that at Earth orbit. That's still very thin, but it does allow for Mercury, with gravity approximately equal to Mars and the strongest non-solar magnetic field inside Earth's orbit, to pick up a significant amount of Hydrogen and Helium in a dynamic balance of gain and loss. As for the rest of your comment, you can't simply state falsehoods as fact. (Well, you can, as your doing so proved, but it's not a compelling argument for anyone who isn't either already in agreement with you or a fool.)
Mercury is associated with the intellect in astrology. Definitely one of the most interesting planets IMO - if not even the most interesting one. Mars is cool too, but if i could choose, id try living on Mercury. I would think that is sufficiently close to the Sun to get rid of winter depressions once and for all :P
Probably not. Astronauts spend months in space and suffer a variety of ill effects, but most are due to the low gravity environment. Radiation can cause cancer, but this space trip is like 10 mins so I doubt it’s a real risk. The only part of you changed would be your perspective-the scope of planet Earth and the fragility of the human race.
The fact there is a snowball in hells chance of there one day being a Mercury Colony that uses Mercury sourced water, is not what I expected. Mercury just got more interesting.
There is no terms like copilot on space ship.For example Space Shuttle there are two persons one is called the Commander and second one is called Pilot,there is no copilot in space industry.
Kids/high school/college students have no idea how easy they have it right now with the kinds of visuals they have to help illustrate so many things that people my age were forced to try and figure out what the hell an old man was writing on a chalkboard, and just visualize it ourselves if we could haha 😂 Then we walked home, barefoot, uphill both ways. In the snow. And we fookin loved it lol.
Our core is kept molten because it's a natural georeactor, which explains the radioactive helium still being released as a byproduct of uranium pile fission.
Still curious about this. None of the sources I looked at mention lunar-tidal friction. They mention residual heat from formation and radioactive decay of potassium, thorium, or uranium.
@@BobStein Residual heat is buncomb; no way it'd still be molten after billions of years, and then why is Venus still so active? Probably because Venus has a larger georeactor.
Astrum and SEA are my 2 "go to" documentary pages on youtube. In this terrible age of AI generated videos, always with Sam Harriss, NDT, Elon, or Rogan on the thumbnail, its nice to see real videos with real content. Ps. Ive given near the same comment on SEA. You are both appreciated very much
Can I just say, as a PhD student in space physics, I'm so happy you went into detail about Mercury's magnetosphere and nightside reconnection. A lot of times this is glossed over because surface features and photos are much prettier or fascinating, but this is an important part of a planet's evolution!
yeah! I completely agree with you!
I feel like someone getting a PhD would know it’s astrophysics
I remember an Asimov story related to Mercury. The whole drama was some spacemen trying to get away from the scorched heat as the dawn was closing after an accident. In the commentary of the book, written years later, he apologized because "at the time we didn't know mercury was tidal lockedto the sun" ...
Almost 30 years later his original story was vindicated!
Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury is the name of the novella.
Yes, I remember that but conflated it with Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars.
Yes, I remember that short story, it was rather compelling by Asimov standards! (As is Nightfall in it's own way)
I love it when this happens
Crazy coincidences.
For people who are curious about how much 1 quadrillion kilograms of water is (and who are familiar with the Great Lakes), it's about 1/2 the water in Lake Ontario, or about 10% of the water in Lake Superior.
Thanks, that makes it a bit easier to envisage 🙂
We had “the great lakes” before your culture even existed…
@@FOS1993 Matt Berry had your name before your RUclips account existed, what's your point?
What about people who aren't in North America???
@@burtbackattack Top use of Google there, chief 🥴.
MESSENGER was the first spacecraft to map out the entirety of Mercury's surface. That alone makes it a worthy of being remembered, in my book.
Can you give us the title of your book, I'd love to read it. ;-)
@@sunnyjim1355 lol funny man
Whats your book?
In recorded history you mean. Funny if mankind steps on a planet or moon and finds evidence of himself from the past.
@@charliepearce8767 "in my book" is a phrase generally referring to one's own opinion. "In my book" is the same thing as saying "In my opinion".
Kim Stanley Robinson wrote several stories and books of a city on Mercury called Terminator. The one I read was 2312. The city stays in the twilight region and travels on rails that expand behind it from the Sun's heat. Fascinating read!
I read that book too, David M. I particularly like ‘Aurora’ by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Funny that you mention that author because I'm currently reading Red Mars. 😀
@Aqua Fyre "Sirens of Titan", and the wonderful chrono-sycnclastic infundibulum!
didnt it get hit by a near relativistic pebble fired by errant quantum ai `s ?
Cool concept but don't like his writing style
I find it ironically humorous that the 2 most insignificant and apparently unimpressive solar satellites; Pluto and Mercury, turn out to be the most interesting and intriguing!
If that's your idea of humour, I bet you're a riot at parties...😘
I still prefer Jupiter
@@ATemplarIGuess you seem like the type
There are several million (probably even billions) other satellites far less interesting!
@@Débribu i think he meant major satellites like dwarf planets or normal planets
I did some research on Omaze and found that the most that they give to a charity is 15% of what Omaze collects. The other 85% they keep for themselves. By any standard, if they were the actual charity, that would be considered fraud. If you want you money to do the most it can do, stop being greedy and donate your money directly to the charity so they get 100% of your donation.
Couldn't say it better myself. Not to mention the miniscule chance of winning the raffle. That in combination with the pay-to-enter structure reminds me a lot of the lottery. You have to pay to enter and your chance of winning is practically nonexistent. You're reassured that the revenue from the lottery is being put towards a good cause, but in reality a small piece of the money earned is actually being used for good purposes.
Reason I don't donate at all (almost).its disgusting how they keep the money.
@Barzing barzoo As churches in the US never have to open their books for an audit, you still have no idea where the money goes, simply their word that it's assisting.
@@k.s.k.7721 Pretty good business, that. I'll give cash to panhandlers. There is no middle man to siphon it off.
RUclips is fun, isn’t it?
In the mid 1800's it was found that the precession of Mercury's orbit could not be explained completely by Newton's law.
This was very puzzling until the phenomenon was explained by relativity.
Thus, Mercury helped to establish confidence in relativity.
Tesla considered Einstein's theory of relativity to be invalid.
@@davenettlesmusic2954 right………
I think it's funny when scientists are wrong for centuries, then say "by complete coincidence, this incredibly rare thing is actually what's happening".
@@UncleUncleRj but… but… you should ALWAYS trust the science. 😂😂😂
@@davenettlesmusic2954 Go Tesla. Einstein was a fool.
I am so happy to see this channel grow. I am here since beginning and i am happy to see Alex churn quality videos time after time. Thank you for educating us “casual nerds” who always learn something new in every video. Thank you Alex McColgan! Go support him on Patreon.
Hah, I am the most Sr citizen here. :D
Same here, randomly found it when he had ~10k subs, i am so happy to see him grow, he deserves every aub and patreon he gets
It would be nice if his knowledge of English were on par with his space acumen.
Very few people are capable of pulling off this kind of RUclips content, Alex is one of the few who can.
I myself am completely capable of such, but I'm just too lazy. So...
1) Never confuse lack of application with lack of ability.
2) Appreciate more the effort and desire that it takes to do such.... because those are far more important characteristics than capability.
@@sunnyjim1355 If you're capable but laziness is what's holding you back then you're not really capable are you? Anyone might be capable to achieve whatever the hell they want but if they don't have the energy to get it done then they achieved nothing at the end of the day.
Finally, I've been waiting for an Astrum upload! These videos are like Christmas! :>
yea like when you open a present to find is LYNX AFRICA
Me too
Yes they are
I wish I could watch his videos in a large planetarium. ❤️
would be Amazing there's a planaterium in Armagh close to me would love to see it there
This fascinating video really made Mercury "come alive" for me too. The details of the 3:2 resonance orbit proving Mercury rotates and the effects of the eccentric orbit are worthy subjects. As always, I really appreciate labeling every frame as either GCI or actual probe video - both elucidate understanding and yield a more accurate picture of Mercury. Another superb effort Alex.
This is one of my favorite channels. I've learned more on this channel than the astronomy class I'm currently taking. Although I do appreciate his ( my professor) method of teaching, it's hard to stay focused and I LOVE anything relating to space. So thank you for being my personal cliff notes as I struggle through this semester. And it's an elective.😩
I would love to see a drone mission being sent in one of the craters to explore the contents of those regions with water. Finding out what type of soil Mercury would have in the areas with water, if there are any life that could have formed in the shadow.
California is getting closer to mimik'ing Mercury's Topography!
GaZillionDollar DeSalinization Plant for Farms & Fire PriCeTection!
Unfortunately, I suspect that for a drone to be able to fly, an atmosphere is required.
@@lani6647 I believe in this case “drone” was meant to be rover. At least that’s how I interpreted the comment.
Mercury is an captivating planet.
Always remember Jeremy Clarkson using that grammar haha
*a
@@Tennishero And trolling is a art
A
Such a fascinating observation… Mercury actually expands and contracts on it’s horizontal plane due to its orbit. Neat.
Great now I don't have to watch the video. Smh.
So does earth, and the moon, and every orbiting body
@@fezii9043 super cool, huh!
Nothing remotely compares to your videos Alex. Keep up the awe inspiring work mate. Thank you !
Yes I agree with you. Alex is amazing. I also like “cool worlds” his channel is like this one.
I also enjoy parallaxnick
I was definitely one to, mostly, shrug Mercury off. And so, I was among the many who didn’t know anything about this mission or its findings.
Mercury is sort of the black sheep in the planetary family. Venus and Mars, our terrestrial sister and brother planets, respectively. Sequentially, these siblings have stood by our side, keeping us intrigued with the possibilities of new life or a new home.
Beyond the main asteroid belt, our extended family, the gas giants. Jupiter captivates with its size and unceasing red storm larger than Earth, itself. Saturn surrounded by breathtaking rings. Uranus and it’s axis so incredibly askew. Distant, deep blue Neptune, it and Uranus dancing their orbital tango, spanning centuries.
Thank you for sharing this reminder that Mercury does have its own wonders to share.
I look forward to 2025.
I really liked this comment. Poetic, and also totally true.
It's also funny to realize, in my case thanks to CGP Grey, that Mercury is the most-closest planet... to every planet, if you take into account orbital periods and such. It's a fun vid and i'd recommend it. But all in all, Mercury is thought of very little and i'm thankful that NASA is taking the effort to research it as they would any other planet, especially given the unique challenge of getting a probe to orbit such a small planet, so close to the sun.
I don't know what all the practical uses for this research could be, besides a possible base of operations for any future dyson swarm project, but the data coming out of these missions has been fascinating.
Mercury has always been the quiet one in the group. She supports her friends and stands as a shield to protect our moon Princess. I'm sure she takes no offense.
@@wayfarerzen the real black sheep is pluto. We basically decided pluto should eat at the kids table.
@@gabriela9044 Exactly what I was thinking lol
How dare you assume the genders of Venus and Mercury. That is such antiquated thinking. Please join us in the 21st century, where planets get to decide their own genders, and aren’t subject to your barbaric precepts.
Fascinating video, as always.
100%. Just thank you Alex
I don't know about you lot, but when ads interrupt a video like this (mid sentence too!) I find myself hating and despising the brands that do so. When will the advertisers realise this?
Get Premium. Well worth it. I could never go back to regular YT. Documentaries are much better with it
A little trick - immediately scroll the progress bar to the end, and click the replay button. On your "second watch", the ads will no longer be present.
Yt vanced for Android.
stop the hate and download an ad blocker...end them all.
If it happens to me, I downright refuse to buy the product, even if its something I like, I'll buy from someone else x.x
Thank you so much for your videos alex, you are one of the few youtubers in the space communit with really well researched and explained videos, thanks for not dumbing them down like alot of other channels do
Just so you know, you always earn my like on your videos. Thank you for sharing your passion
I love watching videos like this and reading comments wish everyone success
The discovery that Mercury is not tidally locked to the Sun dashes any hopes of setting up one or more gigantic heliostats on Mercury that can provide continuous energy to do stuff, such as manufacturing space alloys.
(This was what many hard-SF stories assumed, for instance, "Rendezvous with Rama")
I just listened to that audiobook. I guess I fell asleep during that part.
@@theberg988 Falling asleep on Author C. Clark is blasphemy.
Crikey, what an amazing piece of literature that was. But yes, thanks for pointing that out!
It could still kinda work. Cover part of the planet with photovoltaics and make the other part a giant solar powered batch smelter. Melt stuff during the day and let it cool and chop it into pieces at night.
Oh manufacturer alloys...really 😳 😳 😳, try closer to earth.each planet about 30,000,000 miles apart,♻️reduce reuse recycle ♻️ ♥ 😳 🙄 😑
Wow Mercury is a lot more fascinating than I first expected.
I like the pleasant way you convey a message.
Some links to relevant data and research would go a long way!
Alex. You amaze and inform me with every video. Well done! Oh and on a personal note, your voice over and diction are equally impressive.
Marvelous content, well-read, alluring cadence... I trust the info you post as being reputable and fair. Quite an achievement in the sensory overload of so many folks trying to promote ideas that are bereft of accurate information. Your ideas are clear, the data you share seems authentic, and your demeaner is appealing. Nicely done.
Forgive me if this is not appropriate to mention. I feel confident that in your research that NASA;s Mercury mission was Mariner. Here in the U..S. I remember the TV and radio newscasts pronouncing it with the first syllable accented.. MAR-iner, a long A as in Mary. If my memories of my distant youth have made an error, please accept my sincere apology. Before too long this sentient stardust will cease firing neural pathways altogether, it has been an exhilarating journey.
I love the name 'messenger' for a spacecraft that would orbit Mercury. The name sounds humble and cute.
Question: Is the "1 percent" of the magnetic field of the Earths...is that a straight up comparison, or in proportion...as Mercury is significantly smaller than Earth?
Thanks!
Well done.
Mercury's story nicely told.
It is a MUCH more interesting Planet than people typically assume. 👌
Bedankt
Fascinating stuff, thank you for another great video Alex, you've got a gift for this you know, you're a talented young man 👌🏼
6:30 - 7:00 So, taking all this into account, and that Mercury has quite a bit higher density than the other Solar system's other 'terrestrial planets' (indeed, it's thought that it might once have had an outer rocky layer than has been smashed off - perhaps accounting for it's more elliptical orbit?). Well, how about this as a hypothesis...?
It has been noted that 'super Earths' are quite common in other star systems, yet ours has none. What if Mercury is the core of such a super-earth that once orbited where the asteroid belt now resides, and which is itself the smashed off layer of Mercury's previous form? Maybe Mars was initially a moon of this super-Earth? Or instead maybe two Earth sized planets collided in that orbital space?
Just thoughts.... although I'm sure such scenarios have already been considered already, right?
The asteroid belt, though spread over a vast area, only contains enough material to make something about 1/2000th the size of Earth.
@@occamsrayzor true but how long does time have to pass for that material to completely dissipate or be pulled by other bodies. Or be kicked out due to the initial impact; two planets colliding is a lot of energy. But its almost impossible to know we would need physical samples of Mercury and multiple samples from the belt and Ort cloud. Its like an episode of planetary CSI 🤔🤣
plausible, those asteroids in that field came from somewhere, they were once whole.. imho..
Fun to entertain ...
@@mrfrags6986 and a large collision with something caused the moon, with earth being between Mercury and the asteroid belt ...
0:39 Mariner is pronounced ma
·ruh·nuh. At least this is how NASA pronounces it.
Also magnetometer - magnet-om-eter not magneto-meeter
MAIR-in-er
That's just with an English/american accent. It won't necessarily be pronounced like that with a German accent, or any other accent
@@sebastiangrob4813 yeah. That’s just how it’s pronounced on the language. In some other language it might be pronounced marin or Seemann.
Then the USN says marine-er.
That fourteen and a half minutes sure went fast. (Mercury humor)
By the way, I am clicking and liking every video of yours since you're trying to use less clickbaity titles. Greatly appreciated!
ALIENS SHOCKED by NASA scientist sending NUDE REVEAL photos to nearby star system using GIANT LASER. With EXPLOSIONS!
To think that scientists have studied Mercury completely until new data pops out. This only shows that there are so many things to learn from the planets of the Solar System
Ours as well. As we explore space let's remember to also continue exploring our home, especially in the ocean, under the ice and underground. Heck we're now gonna explore oceans under the ice of one of Jupiter's moons. What a time to be alive.
It goes to show that science is never settled, and never finished. There will always be more to learn.
@@livingcorpse5664 true. I've read someone said it is to late to explore earth, to soon to explore universe, but it's in time to begin explore everything
@@alphagt62 There is one form of science which IS settled, of course, and that's climate science. It's a new form of science in which pressure from the media, pressure from one's employer, and computer models based on incomplete data and vast, poorly understood systems are combined to give predictions which are agreed upon by all scientists. Reputable media sources all say this. A few denier scientists keep citing OLD climate predictions and saying they didn't come true. Well, duh, that's because those are OLD predictions, and science has moved on since then. Our new predictions agree with theory better than before.
As an example of how science is always getting closer to the truth, we now know that "carbon" is slowly killing life on earth. Plants may use "carbon" to photosynthesise, but humans and animals aren't plants and we would be better off without carbon (or is it carbon dioxide? I'm a bit hazy about that now). If necessary we could probably get the scientists to design a new gas that wouldn't be as harmful as CO2. Photosynthesis pales in comparison with the importance of our climate. If the temperature rose just 2 degrees, which is often less than the difference between one summer's day and the next, entire ecosystems would collapse.
Fascinating story, Alex, well told.
I like to think I am pretty up to date with planetary missions, but somehow this one flew completely under my radar. Very informative video as always
Always a treat, these videos.
I made a slab of neutron detecting glass that was built into one of the modules made by John Hopkins uni (if I remember correctly) . I watched its progress , fascinating. Part of my work is now embeded into Mercury :-)
Mercury is pretty neat. Everybody is taken with Mars though. I don't know why, I'm much, much, much more interested in Luna. Our moon is going to be our gateway to the solar system, and building a colony there needs to be the first step to expanding off the planet.
My next favorite is Saturn. Such a beautiful and mysterious place.
Taken with Mars because it's reasonably close and has a solid surface that isn't baked or broiled. Way less cost to build there.
I think altering the orbit of the moon should be a major consideration as doing so will have severe consequences.
@@AnalyticalReckoner Nobody is going to alter the moons orbit anytime soon.
@@AnalyticalReckoner I on the other hand don't want to see our own orbit go out of control and would prefer not to fuck with the balance of nature so drastically, so I'd vote for NOT altering the orbit of the moon.
@@AnalyticalReckoner bro, who said anything about altering lunar orbit? We don't have the capability to do that, and likely won't gain that capability before we most likely all kill each other off. By "gateway to the solar system", Corto means that because of a few key factors -- lunar gravity is ~1/6 that of Earth's, the moon sits significantly higher in Earth's gravity well than the surface of Earth does, and the moon has surface deposits that could be useful for powering spaceflight, e.g. water ice -- if we ever intend to send more than small, individual, unmanned missions beyond Earth's gravity well to places like Mars or further afield, we need to establish infrastructure on the moon to use it as a waypoint in those journeys. A direct trip from the surface of Earth isn't practical because of the enormous fuel requirements. An eventual manned trip to Mars, for example, might look something like: ride launch vehicle to infrastructure in Earth orbit; in Earth orbit, refuel launch vehicle or transfer to Earth-Luna transporter vehicle for trip to Luna; rendezvous with lunar orbital station or land at surface facilities; refuel or transfer vehicles again in preparation for interplanetary cruise phase of mission; launch interplanetary cruise from lunar surface or orbit; arrive in orbit above target body, e.g. Mars.
Personally, I think we're jumping the gun with talk of manned missions to Luna and Mars at this point. We need to leverage artificial intelligence to build the required off-world infrastructure with semi-autonomous unmanned trailblazer missions. That's how we bootstrap our way into the solar system. Sending humans beyond low Earth orbit right now is just a hubristic boondoggle, much as maned moon missions of the 20th century were, now even moreso given our greatly improved ability to perform scientific study remotely.
Astrum texts are extremely well written, not sure if he does this alone, but if he does he's a genius. Almost all his texts are perfect.
Great work on this series!
Thanks
Ice on mercury?! Mind blown.
I had no idea Mercury was that intesting. I thought it was just a hot rock next to the sun. Great video.
I don’t get the ‘thumb down’…. This is the most intriguing channel on RUclips
Great channel! If you want another intriguing channel, check out Suspicious observers. That is amazing!
Any channel about outer space is the right stuff🤓👽👾👽🤓👩🦰👩🚀i agree with with your comment 👍 😀 😄 👌 😉 😊 👍
Space haters 🤣
Grown ups sitting in their parents basement with nothing better to do...
Its called "Failure to Launch"!
Lot of ignorant people out there.
Amazing video of the solar system's most under-rated world. Thanks so much!
Alex, you deserve to go to space with Branson. Thanks for all the great content.
“an eccentric orbit, more so than any other planet.”
But Plut…. Oh wait 😕
Astronomical Union will never convince me that Pluto is not a planet.
@@robertwilliams2850 they don't have to ;) but i will give it a try: in short pluto has been recategorized to dwarf planet mainly because it's not able to clear it's own orbit of space debris. there are other reasons, too. if you are interested in finding out why you want pluto to be a planet, ask yourself if ceres, eris and charon are planets. they all share a lot more between themselves than with the no-prefix-planets.
@@robertwilliams2850 that moment when you discover we were up to 15 planets before we reversed course and a half dozen hit the chopping block but everyone only pays any attention to Pluto.
Don’t be sad for Pluto - be happy for Ceres. It got a promotion!
@@alexmuller6752 but it’s immoral and bigoted to treat a dwarf any different than one that isn’t a dwarf.
Another banger! Keep it up!
If Mercury had a larger atmosphere, would those "re-connection events" produce auroras?
I think it would also need a larger magnetic field.
If it had a significant atmosphere for the charged particles to hit maybe.
Wow! I had always believed the story that Mercury was just a molten ball created by it's closeness to the sun. I never imagined that it even really had a surface you could see. I have to admit I'm having a very hard time imagining ice pockets there, how did the water maintain it's atoms long enough in that fierce solar wind as well as being in exactly the right place to drop down into those craters and freeze? Now, I'm amazed and fascinated by this tiny planet and can't wait to learn more when the next mission arrives there. Thank you ever so much for stretching my mind out to our littlest neighbor.
Awesome content Alex. I learned a lot of things or should say relearned, as most of what I remembered about it was based on outdated information.
Everyone should know about the discharge from Mercury. I drove a Mercury and I always left a trail of smoke behind me
There is no such thing as a boring planet.
Yess.We have such a small sample size, too. It's wild to think about the billions of planets in other systems.
Best channel on RUclips . Thanks for the knowledge !
What a beautiful mission and video! Thank you for taking the time to share this stuff!
Thanks for making so many detailed videos of our planets and other worlds. I love learning about Astronomy.
That was pretty damn good, thanks for sharing your knowledge with us
Wonderful video -- right up until the 13 minute, 4 second mark -- informative, lively and filled with crucial info largely overlooked, even by science lovers.
Alex! While watching this presentation my curiousity started creeping into getting concern about your health! Because I was observing as you were struggling to maintain your voice during the in-between parts of the video! I hope you are fine and in good health! Be blessed a fan and an admirer from Pakistan!
Yeah, sounds like the poor guy has a cold or something. Hope he's alright!
His pronunciation was the first thing to go!
I thoroughly appreciate your consolidation of this complex information in to such a pleasant and informative form.
_The Caloris Basin is a huge impact crater..._
...and that's why there are no dinosaurs on Mercury. ;)
Also the potassium. Mercury has so much potassium that dinosaurs could never survive. It's like if they tried survived on top of a giant banana. Too much potassium.
I thought they died from Mercury poisoning.
@@gregoryhagen8801
Yay! :D
Yes, Mercury's coincidental double rotation to one revolution is kind of like the coincidental moon to sun ratio, which is the sun being 400 times the distance of the moon to Earth, and 400 times the diameter, making a perfect lock and key eclipse. Of course, it seems more plausible to me that these "coincidences" are intentional design.
How Astrum excited humans everywhere
He existed
Very interesting! Thank you for sharing this
Typical quality content from Astrum keep it 💯
Lots of stuff I hadn't heard of. subscribed
Mar (as in marriage) in (as in not out) er. Mariner (like someone that sails the sea). Mariner 10.
I suspect that, living in Switzerland, Alex doesn't get to hear these technical words pronounced in English much.
that was a bit cringy for me to hear him say several times as well. The information was solid enough, however.
Perhaps it’s like aluminum and aluminium? It always rubs me wrong to hear British say aluminium.
5:20 Other then "because the highly ordered model says so"
What makes you think that those are reconnection events.?
The effect we see on magneticfilm are just like densities, But the highly dynamic nature of those density layers make it appear more like aerodynamics instead of some highly ordered reconnecting density spheres surface lines.
We have enough experience studying planetary magnetism to know that that's how it works. Granted, the model used to visualize it in this video oversimplifies it. But we know it happens and how to detect its proxies.
Can you explain about transfer windows for different planets,how long will it last using the starship as the space vehicle? Thank you.
I've been enjoying this channel- thanks!
Another great vid alex
In my graduate courses, I learnt that Curie law of magnetism predicts that as temperature increases, its magnetic properties fade away. How can a metalic molten core still sustain a magnetic field? Would the magnetism of a hot metal depends on the chemical composition of the core??
maybe its just much more magnetic than hot? idk, what youre even talking about tho, so you know my level of physics education :D
maybe theres a difference for permanent and electro magnets, i mean a cold electro magnet wouldnt even be magnetic right? because the energy that makes it magnetic produces heat.
Non-standard pressures probably violate the supposed "law" you were taught about with no regard for intense pressures forcing molecules into aberrant and magnetic arrangements. The Sony minidisc records using a focused laser to heat it's material during the flux change varying as the music does. This is a substance that violates Curie's test bench in the opposite flip. It remembers the flux when heated and is unaffected by anything happening at colder temps. So you were not taught the entire truth of a "law" that has these loopholes large enough to drive a truck through. The folly of man is believing things that just aren't so, welcome to the club of hooman.
@@leebarnes655 Your video title is correct: Mercury Discoveries No-one Expected. In 1492 C Columbus thought he had reached the indies, so he said. Is that the truth or an hypothesis?. "So you were not taught the entire truth of a "law". Are you telling me that facts observed are the real truth? Who has the true explanation of gravity: Newton's law or Einstein's curvature of space? What is the true explanation of magnetism? That is my point.
@@vperez4796 I don't have any video. Your point is buried at the tail end of a reply which means you will fail to get your point across quite often if you don't get it out there first and foremost. AND I wasted my time thinking I was helping someone lost because of the pitfalls of higher education.
Descartes I think, therefore I am
Shakespeare to be or not to be
Sinatra Shoo be do be do be do
Imagine having a colony at the bottom of a crater, and seeing the blazing sun light up the edge of crater.
Whoa ...
I think the view I would most like to see is on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. It's the only other body we know of (other than Earth) that has an atmosphere that can maintain a system whereby a chemical compound can exist in the three basic states - solid, liquid and gas. On Titan that's not water, but ethane/methane. So that means it rains on Titan, but because the surface gravity is much lower than on Earth, the 'rain drops' (it's been estimated) would be the size of golf balls but would float down like we observe snowflakes.
That would be so beautiful to see, imo.
Just an amazing piece of documentary.
Great video! Just a note on the pronunciation of the Mariner missions. It's pronounced like the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" or as in sub-Mariners, not like the boat at the marina. The i is short.
Thank you. It's also a magneTOmeter not a magNEto-meter. 🙄
Go to space,
Doesn’t leaves earth’s ionosphere.
True astronaut experience.
What are the odds we just kept taking a photo at the same time of a Mercury day over and over and over again? Cool to know that the planet isn't tidally locked. Makes you wonder what other misconceptions are waiting to be debunked!
To be fair it wasn't a coincidence that was the only time we looked since there is a limited window in our orbit around the Sun you could observe the planet with a telescope without looking directly at the Sun. Telescopes and sunlight don't generally mix very well at least not without special solar filters and even then dim Mercury would be virtually invisible compared to the blindingly bright Sun. You need a Coronagraph to be able to really get a good look Mercury at any other time.
Now why the period of mercury's day and our observation window happen to be an exact integer ratio is more difficult to answer for sure, but given that the tidal effects of Venus Earth and Jupiter on Mercury are not negligible tidal effects may have played a critical role in this.
Recent work suggests that an 11 year alignment between Venus Earth and Jupiter inducing tidal effects on the Sun appears to be a promising candidate for driving the abnormally regular magnetic reversals of the Sun. If such tides are significant enough to effect the sun what effect might happen if Earth wasn't at some integer multiple alignment towards the length of a day on Mercury since remember Mercury is in a spin orbit resonance which is controlled by tides.
In fact thinking about it if Mercury wasn't aligned at an integer ratio it would be possible for Mercury to align at aphelion with respect to this 11 year resonance. This would raises the real possibility that should Mercury's orbital eccentricity would be increased. Over multiple such encounters Mercury could continue having eccentricity boosting tidal interactions as its orbit lined up with these 3 planets which would then incrementally increase the planets eccentricity even more as the planet would be further from the Sun at aphelion. This could set off a positive feedback loop further boosting eccentricity every time the planets aligned to boost Mercury tidally which would end in 1 of 3 outcomes if the feedback loop wasn't broken through a destructive resonance.The first possibility would be that Mercury's perihelion would drag the planet's closest approach into the atmosphere of the Sun where further heat and dynamical friction would take over to drag the planet into the Sum. The second and third possibilities are that Mercury's aphelion may increase untill the planet's orbit begins o intersect with the orbit of Venus either resulting in the ejection of Mercury from its orbit and ensuing chaos or worse lead to a collision between Mercury and Venus destroying both planets and creating an enormous collisional cascade that would invariably have the potential to destroy the Earth as they formed a new inner asteroid belt. Thus far this doomsday alignment has not occurred yet which may in some way be linked to this seeming coincidence.
If it isn't directly related then that would be a bit scary as research indicated that barring some preventive resonance there is otherwise a 1% chance per billion years for Mercury to end up in this alignment either resulting in the destruction and or ejection of one or more of the inner planets in a myriad of chaotic scenarios which all ultimately would doom life on Earth.
Basically it may be down to luck but also potentially the anthropic principal in the case there is a tidal link since naturally if we weren't oriented such that we couldn't align with Mercury in a way that would destabilize its orbit there would be no Earth our planet having been reduced to rubble billions of years ago thus naturally there being no one to observe Mercury.
One of the alarming discoveries is that the solar system is chaotic and precariously balanced primarily because of Mercury's eccentric orbit.
@@Dragrath1 Makes me appreciate my existence a little bit more.
Thank you for taking the time to make and post this :Awesome" history on Mercury.... LM
It’s really strange how all of the things that disprove the evolutionary protoplanetary disk theories never seems to penetrate into the academic world.
Exactly! Like the fact that Mercury should have lost all its volatiles if it was really millions/billions of years old. Quote: "Hydrogen and helium which cannot be there" Yet they are! And instead of coming to the obvious conclusion that maybe there hasn't been time...
Similar problems for other planets and moons. Tidal forces etc aren't nearly enough to account for phenomena like Enceladus' geysers for example. Or the strength of some of the magnetic fields.
Exactly
@@jeannetteparry5587 Do you know what solar wind is? Hydrogen and helium ions, and to a much lesser extent, other lightweight ions ("light" meaning sub-iron, much of which might be called "volatiles"). By the inverse square law, the density of solar wind at Mercurian orbit is about 7 times that at Earth orbit. That's still very thin, but it does allow for Mercury, with gravity approximately equal to Mars and the strongest non-solar magnetic field inside Earth's orbit, to pick up a significant amount of Hydrogen and Helium in a dynamic balance of gain and loss. As for the rest of your comment, you can't simply state falsehoods as fact. (Well, you can, as your doing so proved, but it's not a compelling argument for anyone who isn't either already in agreement with you or a fool.)
THANK GOODNESS!!!!!!! A video longer than a minute!
At the start of your presentation you call the early space probe “Marina” (a ships dock) It was Mariner ( a sailor or early explorer)
It was his accent .
@@dueldab2117 Narrators shouldn’t have accents. It gives the wrong information.
Mercury is associated with the intellect in astrology. Definitely one of the most interesting planets IMO - if not even the most interesting one. Mars is cool too, but if i could choose, id try living on Mercury. I would think that is sufficiently close to the Sun to get rid of winter depressions once and for all :P
Mercury is mercurial.
"Mariner" is pronounced differently. Easy to look up. Whatever, good vid, thanks!
Amazing video. Much to think about. Thank you all.
is the space trip forever changing you as a person due to the extra levels of cosmic radiation you'll be experiencing?
I don’t think 10 minutes in space will radiate you very much? Probably less than going to the dentist.
Probably not. Astronauts spend months in space and suffer a variety of ill effects, but most are due to the low gravity environment. Radiation can cause cancer, but this space trip is like 10 mins so I doubt it’s a real risk. The only part of you changed would be your perspective-the scope of planet Earth and the fragility of the human race.
The fact there is a snowball in hells chance of there one day being a Mercury Colony that uses Mercury sourced water, is not what I expected. Mercury just got more interesting.
One no longer earns astronaut wings from simply flying onboard a spaceship. You must at least co-pilot the ship.
There is no terms like copilot on space ship.For example Space Shuttle there are two persons one is called the Commander and second one is called Pilot,there is no copilot in space industry.
Kids/high school/college students have no idea how easy they have it right now with the kinds of visuals they have to help illustrate so many things that people my age were forced to try and figure out what the hell an old man was writing on a chalkboard, and just visualize it ourselves if we could haha 😂
Then we walked home, barefoot, uphill both ways.
In the snow.
And we fookin loved it lol.
Great video!
You have some accents placed wrong, I think.
MER-ih-ner, not mer-EEN-er
Mag-neh-TOM-eh-ter, not mag-NEE-to-meter
Our core is kept molten because it's a natural georeactor, which explains the radioactive helium still being released as a byproduct of uranium pile fission.
Still curious about this. None of the sources I looked at mention lunar-tidal friction. They mention residual heat from formation and radioactive decay of potassium, thorium, or uranium.
@@BobStein Residual heat is buncomb; no way it'd still be molten after billions of years, and then why is Venus still so active? Probably because Venus has a larger georeactor.
cute
Fun Fact :- Mercury is known as the Son of The Moon God "Chandra" in Hinduism
Great vid, love your voice and genuine curiosity and passion for the subjects
Mariner, pronounced marin-er.
@@GordonTechno That's not how the British pronounce it. Listen to Iron Maiden's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" for reference.
Astrum and SEA are my 2 "go to" documentary pages on youtube.
In this terrible age of AI generated videos, always with Sam Harriss, NDT, Elon, or Rogan on the thumbnail, its nice to see real videos with real content.
Ps. Ive given near the same comment on SEA.
You are both appreciated very much