Hypothetical moon of Mercury

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and lacks any natural satellites. An undiscovered moon orbiting the planet was hypothesized to exist in the early 1970s, but it turned out to be misinterpreted data from the star 31 Crateris.[1] Observation of a moon of Mercury from Earth would be difficult because Mercury is relatively close to the Sun.[2] For example, Mercury was not observed in the infrared spectrum until 1995.[2] NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, which orbited Mercury from 2011 to 2015, did not detect any moon.[3][4] Mercury's small Hill sphere limits the potential for a natural satellite to exist.[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Solarviews was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Malcolm W. Browne - An Airborne Telescope Risks a Look At Mercury (1995) - The New York Times
  3. ^ "MESSENGER Provides New Look at Mercury's Landscape, Metallic Core, and Polar Shadows" (Press release). Johns Hopkins University. March 21, 2012. Archived from the original on May 13, 2013. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  4. ^ A lot of moons or no moons at all? NASA. 5 November 2015.
  5. ^ "Q & A: Why doesn't Mercury have any moons?". Retrieved 2019-07-08.