Overview
- Describes our state-of-the-art understanding of the planet Mercury based on latest observations, which reveal a very dynamic world
- Discusses Mercury’s significance in the light of the many exoplanets now known to orbit very close to their stars
- Explains what we can infer about Mercury's origin and evolution
- Accessible to amateur astronomers and undergraduate students
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Springer Praxis Books (PRAXIS)
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
A new and detailed picture of Mercury is emerging thanks to NASA’s MESSENGER mission that spent four years in orbit about the Sun’s innermost planet. Comprehensively illustrated by close-up images and other data, the author describes Mercury’s landscapes from a geological perspective: from sublimation hollows, to volcanic vents, to lava plains, to giant thrust faults. He considers what its giant core, internal structure and weird composition have to tell us about the formation and evolution of a planet so close to the Sun. This is of special significance in view of the discovery of so many exoplanets in similarly close orbits about their stars. Mercury generates its own magnetic field, like the Earth (but unlike Venus, Mars and the Moon), and the interplay between Mercury’s and the Sun’s magnetic field affects many processes on its surface and in the rich and diverse exosphere of neutral and charged particles surrounding the planet.
There is much about Mercury that we still don’t understand. Accessible to the amateur, but also a handy state-of-the-art digest for students and researchers, the book shows how our knowledge of Mercury developed over the past century of ground-based, fly-by and orbital observations, and looks ahead at the mysteries remaining for future missions to explore.
Reviews
“The book comprises seven, well-illustrated chapters: the first begin a good summary of pre-space-age knowledge of the planet. … this is a good book and a pleasure to own. It will live where it can be found easily.” (Jeremy Joseph, Geoscientist, Vol. 26, July, 2016)
“Rothery has crafted an engaging and well-constructed book, which is copiously sprinkled with clear illustrations, most of which are in colour. It ought to enjoy a wide readership from the dedicated amateur to the professional specialist. … Very few books devoted to the planet Mercury exist; this latest one is a must for astronomical libraries.” (Richard McKim, The Observatory, Vol. 136 (1250), February, 2016)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Planet Mercury
Book Subtitle: From Pale Pink Dot to Dynamic World
Authors: David A. Rothery
Series Title: Springer Praxis Books
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12117-8
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental Science, Earth and Environmental Science (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2015
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-12116-1Published: 28 November 2014
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-34894-0Published: 22 September 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-12117-8Published: 13 November 2014
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 180
Number of Illustrations: 46 b/w illustrations, 57 illustrations in colour
Topics: Astronomy, Observations and Techniques, Planetology, Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics)