In March, scientists published a paper in order to discuss Mercury’s mysterious black color. The paper was published by scientists from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. It appears that Mercury is much darker compared to Earth’s moon, and this has created confusion among scientists since long.

Moon looks darker compared to other objects in the solar system for the reason that this world has no air and it was affected by ‘darkening’ processes together with bombardment of solar wind and micrometeorite impacts. Thin coating of dark iron nanoparticles forms on its surface as a result of the two processes; therefore it appears darker when it is observed from a distance.

And according to spectral data, Mercury’s surface has very little nanophase iron, which indicates that a different source or different process could be the reason behind its darker appearance.

As per the research that was conducted in March, comets moving towards the Sun’s direction and passing by Mercury are the reason behind the tiny planet’s appearance. A new research has linked comets crash to the strange swirls in the Moon’s surface.

According to Brown University’s planetary geoscientist Peter Schultz, co-author of the Mercury-comet painter, “We think this makes a pretty strong case that the swirls represent remnants of cometary collisions. You could see that the whole area around the lunar modules was smooth and bright because of the gas from the engines scoured the surface”.

Schultz and Megan Bruck-Syal, Schultz’s former graduate student who at present is working at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, published the new study regarding Moon’s mysterious swirls.