Mercury, the Smallest Planet, Is Getting Even Smaller, Scientists Say
A new look at the planet shows that it has shrunk almost nine miles in diameter.
Like a raisin spinning around the sun, Mercury is shrinking and wrinkling. The planet is now up to 8.6 miles (14 kilometers) smaller in diameter than it was nearly four billion years ago, according to a report released on Sunday.
The planet is downsizing because it is cooling. Images snapped by a NASA spacecraft have provided the first complete picture of how the single rocky plate that encapsulates Mercury is contracting, warping the surface into puckered ridges and scallop-edged cliffs known as lobate scarps.
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