Mercury's tail consists of surface particles ejected by micrometeorites

Professor of Planetary Science Paul Byrne explains that what we see in this photograph by the astrophotographer Sebastian Voltmer is not a comet but Mercury.

The reason it has a tail is that micrometeorites bombard the planet's surface and throw tiny fragments of it out into space. These fragments contain atoms that go to make up minerals, sodium for example, which glows when sunlight falls on it. Thus the thin, comet-like glowing tail is in essence a trail of pieces of Mercury.

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Mercury's tail consists of surface particles ejected by micrometeorites

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s