NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft that is in orbit around Mercury has detected the presence of water-ice in the permanently shadowed craters at the North Pole of the planet. Other craters that had part of their interiors permanently shadowed were detected to have water ice as well - the pic below shows where these deposits are located.
Scientists estimate there could be anywhere from 100 billion to 1 trillion tons of water-ice locked in the frozen depths of the craters. That is enough water to cover Washington D.C. to a depth of 2 miles!
This is the same result we found at the South Pole of the Moon - water-ice locked in the frozen depths of craters that have never seen the presence of sunlight.
What's more, the presence of complex organic compounds was found as well at Mercury perhaps covering the water-ice. Sounds a lot like the result of numerous cometary impacts to me - water-ice and organics all mixed in.
Read More About It: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/29nov_iceonmercury/
Tomorrow we'll discuss the Curiosity announcement onDec.3 that is being downplayed byNASA.
Sky Guy in VA
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