Study Finds Near-Mass Collision Explains Mercury's Formation

Recent scientific research has shed new light on the formation of Mercury, challenging the long-held belief that the planet's large metallic core resulted from a catastrophic collision with a larger celestial body. Instead, astronomer Patrick Franco and his team propose a more probable scenario involving a near-collision between two protoplanets of similar masses, a common event in the early Solar System. Their dynamic simulations suggest that this grazing impact could explain Mercury's unique structure without requiring rare, exceptional collisions. This alternative theory, published in Nature Astronomy, emphasizes the statistical likelihood and dynamic plausibility of such impacts, offering a fresh perspective on planetary formation processes. Meanwhile, unrelated articles discuss the origins of television technology, sci-fi drama programming, and the Phoenix Mercury's recent basketball victory, which are not connected to the topic of Mercury's formation and thus excluded from this summary.