Scientists rethink evolution of Mercury

November 9, 10:52 AMChristian Worldview ExaminerBill Belew

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Scientists are going back to the drawing board on their best theories of the origins and evolution of the planet Mercury.

New flybys of the planet have given evidence "that volcanic activity, including explosive eruptions, continued until unexpectedly recent times." Can you say less than 6,000 years?

Scientists aren't ready to say that but they are willing/needing to shorten the 'long long ago' to maybe just long ago.

Instead of 3 billion years ago, maybe just one billion.

But "if the basin is young and the interior is even younger ... that may not be the case," said Brett Denevi, an imaging team member from Arizona State University in Tempe.

The Baltimore Sun quotes - "Models of Mercury's formation and evolution will have to be reassessed to account for a large iron and titanium content. ... It will keep people busy for a while trying to understand this," said a scientist with the mission from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory near Laurel. 

"It's going to be a volley back to our geochemists ... to come up with an explanation," said the Carnegie Institute of Washington principal investigator.

My experience when folk, including scientists want to halve or cut by two-thirds a number, they weren't too sure to begin with. It reminds me of people saying it could cost $1 or 2 billion. It means they have no idea. It could cost this much or twice as much. Yeah, right.

Can you say Creator?

Points to the Messenger bunch for at least admitting they may not have gotten something right and are at least taking another look.