Mercury's satellites: real or hypothetical? Does Mercury have a companion?

The cosmic bodies, flashing before us mainly on pages of atlases, screens of monitors and televisions, evoke a keen interest. About our Solar System has collected a lot of data for the last century, when the development of space technology has made a leap forward. However, knowledge of the 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 small planets of the Solar System in this article. This planet Mercury, the closest to the Sun, is one of the smallest. What do you think is the secret of this heavenly body? To solve it, you must first remember whether there are satellites of Mercury. Difficult, is not it? And now we go on a trip to entertaining astronomical facts.

What do we already know about Mercury?

In the school curriculum, not too extensive knowledge is given about the planets of the solar system, but sufficient for the general knowledge sector.

Mercury - one of the smallest planets in the solar system (after the removal of Pluto beyond the planetary system is very small). Also, it is closest to the Sun.

The planet has a small mass relative to our Earth (only 1/20). In this case, most of the object's body is a liquid core, which, in the opinion of some researchers, contains a high level of iron.

In addition, we know how many satellites Mercury has: he does not. However, not everything is so clearly in the world of astronomers.

Mysterious heavenly 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 in its time put forward.

So, it happened in 1974, on March 27th. At this time, the interplanetary station "Mariner 10" was approaching Mercury. Instruments on board the station were recorded ultraviolet radiation, which a priori should not have been on this part of the road. 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

In the current conditions, the research team has new data for versions, whether there are satellites from Mercury. In occasion of this prospective object scientists had several versions. Some were convinced that it was a star, others were a satellite. In favor of the latest version, some data related to current assumptions about the existence of the interstellar medium were said.

For a long time, space exploration of Mercury was conducted to find the 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 note of the historical existence of a certain satellite of Mercury. At the moment there is an unequivocal answer to the question of how many satellites Mercury has - not one natural.

There are no data on the number of cosmic objects revolving around 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 - this hypothetical cosmic object, revolving around the planet, was considered a natural origin. That is, its availability (at least hypothetical) would be the answer to the question whether there are natural satellites of Mercury. For a short time this hypothesis existed, 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 was not confirmed.

Conclusion

This article touches upon an interesting aspect of astronomy, which you probably did not tell at school. When describing the planets of the solar system, much attention is paid to satellites natural and artificial.

At this stage in the development of astronomical science, there is no doubt that there are no natural satellites of Mercury. However, there was another period in science, when after the capture of ultraviolet radiation in an area unusual for this space, scientists came up with different hypotheses. Among them were the assumptions that the natural satellites of Mercury exist.

What other riddles space will present in such a space as our solar system, we can only assume and rely on science fiction writers. Perhaps, the satellites of Mercury and other cosmic bodies, which planetary science does not suspect, will still be open.