Now, three different lines of evidence back the water-ice interpretation. Infrared laser pulses fired at the planet by MESSENGER's Mercury Laser Altimeter have revealed bright regions inside nine ...

Prior to this analysis, seven craters on Mercury were thought to contain ice on the surface. New findings confirmed past evidence indicating the presence of ice for five such craters, but did not show ...

The new data indicate that the water ice in Mercury’s polar regions, if spread over an area the size of Washington, D.C., would be more than 2 miles thick.

The ice rests at Mercury's polar regions within deep craters where the sun never shines. Temperatures within the ice-filled craters never get warmer than approximately -170 °C. Researchers have ...

Scientists have collected hard evidence that the tiny world closest to our Sun has at least one polar ice cap. ... Ice On Mercury: What Next? By Roxanne Palmer Published 11/30/12 AT 5:41 PM EST.

Mercury – the planet, not the element – was in the news this past week. For some time, we had suspected that the poles of Mercury might harbor deposits of water ice.

Water ice exists on the planet Mercury, hidden in permanently shadowed craters at the small planet's north pole, NASA says. The Mercury water discovery was made by NASA's Messenger spacecraft ...