While humanity has been wondering for centuries if there are aliens living on Mars, or on one of Jupiter’s or Saturn’s moons, it seems like they could exist in a very surprising place. Extraterrestrial life being present on Mercury, the first planet from the Sun, is the latest hypothesis of astronomers that shocks the world.
Anybody that knows a bit of astronomy knows that Mercury has very high temperatures at its surface, which makes life development impossible. But this doesn’t apply for all the planet’s surface. Mercury is not rotating as Earth does so that day and night can form. Therefore, there are about 600 degrees Celsius on one side of Mercury, while on the other side of the planet it’s freezing cold.
Water is the biggest hint
The co-author of the new study claiming that aliens could exist on Mercury is Jeffrey Kargel from the Planetary Science Institute. He explains very clear how could the first planet from the Sun host alien life forms:
It is possible that as long as there was water, the temperatures would be appropriate for the survival and possibly the origin of life,
Scientists claim that the cracks from the surface of Mercury are caused by volatiles, which are elements that can switch from one state to another. For instance, like a liquid is turning into a gas, bubbling up from below. Volatiles could provide an appropriate environment for hypothetical life living underground.
However, scientists admit that their hypothesis has low chances to be true, but they are clinging to a bit of hope. Kargel further explains:
But the more I dug into the geologic evidence and the more I thought about the chemistry and physical conditions there, the more I realized that this idea — well it might be nuts, but it’s not completely nuts.
Whether there are any ‘Mercuryans’ or not, and how hospitable are they if they exist, we’ll find out for sure pretty soon. Mercury is not so far away, and astronomy is a field teeming with researches and experiments.
The study was published last week in the journal Scientific Reports.
