Mercury has rough this. Not only is it the smallest planet in the solar system, it is also closest to our Sun. Mercury has developed due to this unfortunate situation Cracks and fractures on its surfaceAnd causing tension on its crust, found in a new study.

The mercury is dry, rugged and heavy pit; The planet appears deformed with huge rocks and lines, as well as fracture lines that run along its surface. The origin of mercury marks is a secret for a long time: how was the planet cool and contract in such an unusual way after the formation of the planet? Find out, the answer may be due to this Uncomfortable proximity to the sunA team of researchers at Burn University created a physical model of mercury, to see how much the Sun’s tidal forces have affected the small planet, revealing that the star may have affected the growth and orientation of tectonic features on its surface for a long time. The results are wide in one Study published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planet.

The planets are formed from the warm, melted materials released from the birth of a star. Over time, these objects cool and their internal material shrinks, making them contracted because their crusts are wrinkled and crack. Evidence has shown that on the other hand, the mercury not only shrunk – its surface also moved later. Cracks and fractures are also made in its rocky crust. Scientists admitted that the process that shaped the outer layer of mercury was a result of this cooling and contract, but the study suggests that it could be a comfortable orbit of the planet around the Sun.

The mercury is one of the most unique classes in the solar system. It takes about 88 Earth days to complete a orbit around the Sun, during which the planet revolves around its axis thrice every two classes. Its orbit is also extremely elliptical and is bent up to 7 degrees compared to the orbital aircraft of the Earth, its eccentricity means that the experiences of Mercury from the Sun are very different from the tide. “Orbital characteristics create tidal stress that can leave an impression on the surface of the planet,” Lillian Berkhard, a researcher at the Space Research and Planetary Science Division at Burn University, said in a statement by the lead author of the study. “We can see a tectonic pattern on the mercury that suggests that more global cooling and contraction is running more.”

The team behind the study demanded to investigate how these tide forces contribute to shaping the crust of Mercury. They used the physical model of mercury in the last 4 billion years, how to calculate how the tidal forces of the sun may have affected its surface tension. The results showed that the changing gravitational bridge of the Sun has affected the tectonic characteristics of the mercury over time.

Berkhard said, “The tide stresses have been largely ignored so far, as they were considered very small to play an important role.” “Our results suggest that the magnitude of these stresses is not enough to generate defective alone, the direction of tidli-induced shear stresses correspond to the tilt of the fault-slip pattern on the surface of the mercury.”

Recent findings can also be applied to other planets, showing how subtle forces separate from tectonics can have a permanent effect on its surface. According to Berkhard, “Understanding that a planet like mercury malformations helps us understand how planetary bodies develop in billions of years.”

The scientists behind the new study are expecting to collect more clues about the perverted surface of the mercury through the Bipicolombbo mission, which, which Launched in October 2018 As a joint venture between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa). Bepicolombo is the only third spacecraft to visit the mercury; The elusive planet is difficult to arrive due to the powerful gravitational bridge of the Sun, which may have surrounded the surface of the planet.