Here is a little something I saw on Yahoo today.
Did you see this about ice on Mercury? http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/nasa-says-enough-ice-mercury-encase-washington-dc-194415297.html
I wonder what else of what we know is wrong?
John is proven right once again!
i dont know whether to laugh or cry if this is real.
if this is real it would blow my mind.
ive been living through a three year drought here in ne texas and it would really piss me off to find out there is ice on the hottest planet in the solar system.
Distance from the Sun is only one of the components which can affect the temperature of an environment, on a celestial body in our solar system.
Things are far more complex than we know.
Temperature can also be affected, by Gravitational forces from outside, i.e. affected through the stretching and pulling on our planet by its orbiting moon.
Our seas have tidal affects due to both the Sun and Moon.
So too it is within the Planet itself, affecting pressures on / in its mass.
Heat is generated "Internally" in a celestial body governed by many different factors.
Today, it is believed by Science the "core temp" of our planet is about 5,430 °C + (but may even be Higher than this)
The orbiting Moon also has an affect on our Axis. (Wobble or Precession)
The actual make up of a celestial body also has a large input especially its atmospheric make up.
Rotational speed also plays a part in this too.
So we can't assume that planets closer to the Sun will be hotter than those further away.
Because it is also determined by the heat being generated Internally as well as the flow of energy in either direction in the celestial body.
So yes Mercury could have Ice present.
Likewise some of the Larger celestial bodies may be hotter than expected.
Measuring Temp. from an external source is Not reliable.