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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- A new study shows that little, wrinkly Mercury may be shrinking faster than expected, the cosmos' version of a grape shriveling into a raisin under the sun.
Scientists from the German Aerospace Center's Institute of Space Research reported Thursday that Mercury's shrinkage may be 30% greater than previously believed -- a loss in diameter of as much as 14 miles. That's significant for a planet barely 3,000 miles across.
Mercury's rough surface, continually reshaped by debris hurled from impact craters, may have hidden the true extent of the loss, according to the researchers whose findings appear in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Our solar system's smallest and innermost planet has been shrinking ever since its formation 4.5 billion years ago. Its hot iron core -- oversized for such a small world -- cools and contracts along with the mantle and crust, tightening the surface like a girdle to fit its new slimmer self.