Study finds Mercury crust shrank 23km as core cooled

Technology Sep 21, 2026

Turns out Mercury, the speedy planet with the fastest orbit around the Sun, is shrinking way more than scientists expected.

A new study found its crust has squeezed in by 23km as the core cools, which is more than double what experts estimated back in 2013.

Basically, Mercury's getting wrinkles as it ages!

Scientists suspect Mars and Moon shrinking

Those giant cliffs and ridges on Mercury's surface? They're clues about how planets change over time, kind of like stretch marks for worlds.

And with the BepiColombo spacecraft (from JAXA and ESA) set to orbit Mercury soon, scientists suspect Mars and our Moon may be reducing in size too.