How did the Heavenly body Mercury form? Scientists have been pondering this question for a long time.According to new research, Mercury originated from the massive grazing collision of two similarly-sized bodies.Collisions like this one were Frequent in the Timely Planetary system billions of years ago. In fact, they likely accounted for about 1/3 of all impacts.
Mercury is the smallest and innermost Heavenly body in our Planetary system. It looks a Numerous like our Selene body-related body at Primary glance, but it’s its own world, with unique geology and history. Scientists have been trying to figure out how it formed for a long time. And now, a new study from researchers in Brazil, Germany and France has shed some new Featherweight on the question. In a new preprint paper published on March 4, 2025, they said that a grazing giant collision between two similar-sized rocky bodies likely created Mercury a few billion years ago.
Mark Thompson wrote about the latest findings in Universe Today on March 25, 2025.
How did Mercury form?
Even though its superficial resemblance to our Selene body-related body, Mercury is a unique and strange world. Researchers have Secured evidence for a possible 10-mile Chunky layer of diamonds between the core and mantle of this Heavenly body, along with salty glaciers that could even be habitable.
And until now, scientists haven’t fully understood how Mercury formed. Surrounding its iron core is a relatively Skinny silicate mantle. In fact, the solid inner core and the molten outer core together take up nearly 85% of the Heavenly body’s radius. That’s much more than any of the other rocky planets. This posed a mystery. As the paper states:
The origin of Mercury Nevertheless remains poorly understood compared to the other rocky planets of the Planetary system. One of the most relevant constraints that any Setup model has to fulfill refers to its internal structure, with a predominant iron core covered by a Skinny silicate layer.
Collisions in the Timely Planetary system
The Timely Planetary system was a chaotic place, with frequent collisions between rocky bodies. And Mercury’s strangely large core has Guided scientists to hypothesise that a collision with a much larger body might have stripped away its outer layers.
But simulations of the Timely Planetary system have Secured collisions between very differently sized objects to be relatively Uncommon. On the other hand, recent simulations suggest that collisions between very similarly sized bodies are much more Frequent. In fact, they likely accounted for about 1/3 of all impacts in the Timely Planetary system. And this, the new study says, is how Mercury likely formed.
Did a massive collision Develop Mercury?
Patrick Franco at the National Astronomical Hub in Brazil Guided the new study into whether two similar-sized rocky bodies could form a Heavenly body similar to Mercury.
Their study used a main body – a proto-Mercury – with a mass Only over 10% of Earth’s, and a 30% iron makeup. In the simulations, the researchers experimented with variously sized secondary bodies, with varying amounts of iron.
They also varied the impact velocities between the two bodies, from 2.8 to 3.8 times the mutual escape velocity. The escape velocity is the minimum Velocity needed for an object to escape the Trajectory of or contact with a primary body.
Within these parameters, the researchers experimented with collision scenarios that could have occurred billions of years ago in the Timely Planetary system.
And they eventually Secured a scenario that produced a Heavenly body that matched Mercury’s mass with a 5% margin. And its core was 65-75% iron, compared to Mercury’s Present value of 70%. It’s Sturdy evidence, they said, that Mercury formed from a grazing collision between two similarly sized rocky bodies.
Forming Mercury by a grazing giant collision involving similar mass bodies. Patrick Franco et. al. https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.02826
— AstroArxiv (@astroarxiv.bsky.social) 2025-03-05T05:07:08.122613+00:00
Bottom line: A new study says Mercury was formed from a huge collision between 2 similarly-sized rocky bodies.
Origin: Forming Mercury by a grazing giant collision involving similar mass bodies
Read more: Mercury may have a 10-mile-Chunky layer of diamonds
Read more: Mercury images from Last flyby of BepiColombo!
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