Cosmic bodies, flickering in front of us mainly on the pages of atlases, screens of monitors and TVs, cause lively interest. A lot of data has been collected about our solar system over the past century, when the development of space technology has made a leap far ahead. However, knowledge of planets that are neighbors of the Sun, people far from astronautics and astronomy are not so wide.
We are going to talk about one of the smallest planets in the solar system in this article. This is the planet Mercury, closest to the Sun, one of the smallest. What mystery do you think this heavenly body holds? To unravel it, you must first remember whether there are satellites of Mercury. Hard, right? And now we are going on a journey into entertaining astronomical facts.
What do we already know about Mercury?
The school curriculum gives not too extensive knowledge about the planets of the solar system, but sufficient for the general knowledge sector.
Mercury is one of the smallest planets in the solar system (after the expulsion of Pluto beyond the planetary system, it is the smallest at all). It is also closest to the Sun.
The planet has a small mass relative to our Earth (only 1/20). In this case, the bulk of the body of the object is the liquid core, which, according to some researchers, contains a high level of iron.
In addition, we know how many satellites Mercury has: it does not have them. However, not everything was so clear in the world of astronomers.
Mysterious celestial body: the history of the hypothesis
As we have already said, the existence of a natural satellite was not a long scientific hypothesis. It is interesting on the basis of what conclusions it was put forward at one time.
So it happened in 1974, March 27th. At this time, the interplanetary station Mariner-10 was approaching Mercury. Instruments on board the station recorded ultraviolet radiation, which a priori should not have been on this section of the track. At least the astronauts thought so.
The next day there was no radiation. Two days later, on March 29, the station again flew near Mercury and again recorded ultraviolet radiation. According to its characteristics, it could come from a space object that separated from the planet.
Versions of scientists about objects near Mercury
Under the current conditions, the research team has new data for versions of whether Mercury has satellites. Scientists have several versions about this proposed site. Some were convinced that it was a star, others - that a satellite. In favor of the latest version, some evidence was said related to then-relevant assumptions about the existence of an interstellar medium.
For a long time, space exploration of Mercury was conducted in order to detect a source of ultraviolet radiation. However, neither then nor now there is no data on that object.
How many satellites does Mercury have?
Thus, we can repeat the hypothesis of scientists and take into account the historical existence of a certain satellite of Mercury. At the moment, there is a definite answer to the question of how many satellites Mercury has - not a single natural one.
There are no data on the number of space objects orbiting this planet. Only artificial cosmic bodies launched by man now fit the definition of a satellite of a given celestial body.
So, the satellite of Mercury - a hypothetical space object orbiting a planet, was considered to be of natural origin. That is, its presence (at least hypothetical) would be the answer to the question whether there are natural satellites of Mercury. This hypothesis lasted for a short time, its adherents became less and less. Subsequently, the first artificial satellite of Mercury was launched. This happened in March 2011. The existence of natural satellites has not been confirmed.
Conclusion
This article touches on an interesting aspect of astronomy, which you most likely were not told about at school. In describing the planets of the solar system, a lot of attention is paid to natural and artificial satellites.
At the present stage of the development of astronomical science, there is no doubt about the absence of natural satellites of Mercury. However, there was another period in science, when after capturing ultraviolet radiation in an unusual for this part of outer space scientists came up with various hypotheses. Among them were suggestions that the natural satellites of Mercury exist.
What other riddles will the cosmos present in such a space as our solar system, we can only speculate and rely on science fiction writers. Perhaps, the satellites of Mercury and other cosmic bodies, which planetology does not suspect now, will still be discovered.