Green Meteorite Found In Morocco May Be From Mercury

An anonymous reader writes in with news that a meteorite found in Morocco might be from Mercury. "The green rock found in Morocco last year may be the first known visitor from the solar system's innermost planet, according to meteorite scientist Anthony Irving, who unveiled the new findings this month at the 44th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. The study suggests that a space rock called NWA 7325 came from Mercury, and not an asteroid or Mars."

Comments

With a name like NWA 7325...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd guess it was "Straight Outta Compton"

Re:Dumb Question:

[emurphy42]

From TFA:

NWA 7325 has a lower magnetic intensity — the magnetism passed from a cosmic body's magnetic field into a rock — than any other rock yet found, Irving said. Data sent back from NASA's Messenger spacecraft currently in orbit around Mercury shows that the planet's low magnetism closely resembles that found in NWA 7325, Irving said.

Messenger's observations also provided Irving with further evidence that could support his hypothesis. Scientists familiar with Mercury's geological and chemical composition think that the planet's surface is very low in iron. The meteorite is also low in iron, suggesting that wherever the rock came from, its parent body resembles Mercury.

Re:Another dumb question....

[tverbeek]

Mercury's gravity is rather weak (1/20 Earth's mass), and it has no atmosphere to speak of. A rock getting enough kinetic energy to escape Mercury's gravity isn't that hard to imagine.

The tricky part of this scenario is getting the rock enough kinetic energy to boost it from Mercury's orbit out to Earth. I'd guess a slingshot around the sun was probably needed.

Re:Meanwhile, in Kansas

[GodfatherofSoul]

You're obviously not from a rural town. Whenever an older woman who never appeared pregnant magically shows up with a baby, that means her 16 year-old daughter who went to "California" for a year got knocked up. "Krypton" ain't nothing but the back seat of Jed's Camaro; coincidentally on his "hey y'all watch this" night down at that abandoned nuclear silo.