Planet Mercury is a Strange Alien World

[@phaedrus000]

It's 80% metal and it's right next to the sun. It's almost like the universe left us a little Dyson swarm starter kit.

[@defeatSpace]

Yep! I'm already working on it

[@jetboy33]

Certainly a sample-size at least

[@matthewdavies2057]

Don't even joke about that.

[@JakvsMetalheads999]

Time to blow up Mercury 😏

[@Conradical316]

what a crazy world in which we livvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve

[@TreiPani]

Woah. The idea of Mercury being Theia is fascinating. Great stuff as always!

[@rellikinvictus1057]

That thought entered my mind the instant he said it could be a core.

[@learnpianofastonline]

I have a wondered if Mercury was not the core of a sub Neptune, or super earth type world that formed close to the sun and then lost its atmosphere to the intense radiation.

[@mikeharrington5593]

Yes. Both fascinating and plausible

[@oxidizedoregano]

​@@rellikinvictus1057 yup me too

[@djdrack4681]

Sorry to disagree. IF primordial Earth fought a protoplanet/young dwarf planet (& won), well the compositions don't add up. Its more likely to be a post-planetary remnant (core) from a Hot Jupiter that transited from wider orbit to one close to sun;.

[@jetboy33]

I just learned more about Mercury in this 13 minute video than I have in years of having a great interest in the solar system, space, and the realities and possibilities of it all. Mercury as possibly Thea is a new one, and it makes sense that the planet could be the core of a once larger world. As always, your vids are a must-watch as soon as I get the notifications of each new upload.

[@morgansheppy1584]

I love the mercury-is-Thea theory, so cool

[@herbiehusker1889]

Are you going to do one of these videos for each planet?

[@adamsteely3128]

We can only hope

[@JohnMichaelGodier]

That is indeed the plan.

[@burningchrome70]

Yyaaaayyyy!!!

[@herbiehusker1889]

@@JohnMichaelGodier Something to look forward to. That and the opossum at Christmas time.

[@Amigafur]

Cool Crab!

[@davidroddini1512]

So the best way to study Mercury given how close to the horizon it is, it to chop down all trees and level all buildings. Got it 😜

[@defeatSpace]

Or simply climb one of those

[@jameswilkinson259]

For northern hemisphere observers the best time to spot Mercury is just after sunset in spring and just before sunrise in autumn when it is at greatest elongation i.e. separation from the sun. A clear, flat horizon helps a lot.

[@hakrj12]

@@defeatSpace whoa, whoa, whoa ... Let's not over think this

[@RhysOlwyn]

Dig a big trench on the horizon to get more Mercury, man

[@2Evil2Hope]

We're starting at your house. 😊

[@chrisjoosten9819]

This is quite possibly the most interesting episode you've ever done. Thank you. This is gonna keep my head spinning for a while!

[@ShatteredWindowpane]

Videos like this are why I love your channel. Channels like Astrum are great at getting a pure education on a topic, but the idea that Mercury could actually be Theia / be responsible in part for life on Earth is such a cool concept that I've never heard anyone else discuss before.

[@srf2112]

Play enough pool and you soon realize when two spheres collide it is overwhelmingly more common for a glancing blow than a straight direct hit.

[@treystephens6166]

But there are no containing walls in space.

[@GIJRock]

Man I medicate while watching this channel every night thank you for stimulating my mind! 😊😮

[@nbh10101]

Same man.

[@AndreasRavnestad]

What kind of medication do you take? Hope you feel better soon 🙏

[@MultiTsbaby]

@@AndreasRavnestad prob heroin

[@ekothesilent9456]

@@AndreasRavnestadZaza friend

[@Sivanot]

@@AndreasRavnestadWhen people say they “medicate” they often mean weed or something similar.

[@solvingpolitics3172]

Mercury is a very underrated planet!

[@treystephens6166]

That’s because there’s nothing there.

[@sasqetshenkley1190]

*Mercury is hiding behind the trees watching me?!* Thanks for fueling my anxiety disorder JMG

[@JoeBManco]

"I always feel like somebody's watching me." by Rockwell.

[@gpwalltickler8591]

Mercury maintaining the peep

[@p1ls726]

Bruh, the thought of Mercury MAYBE being Theia is so wild

[@animeandwieardness6132]

What?!?! This is absolutely insane! Thank you, JMG!🎉

[@abdul-malikasad3785]

I moved to the Mojave a few years ago and I too for the first time I was able to see Mercury here in my town😊

[@treystephens6166]

My butt hole itches.

[@jameswilkinson259]

Mercury has long been one of my favorite solar system objects because it's challenging to observe. Seeing Mercury is a special treat for me.

[@brotatobrosaurus5411]

the only channel on youtube where it's a compliment to say this video put me to sleep

[@tyler-qr5jn]

I always watch to bed

[@davidk1308]

I haven't heard the hypothesis that Mercury is Theia, that's a neat idea, and we could learn a lot about the early Earth and Moon if it turns out to be the case. Mercury is pretty interesting to me, mostly due to the facts its surface gravity is comparable to Mars despite being much smaller, and that it has a rotation rate in a spin resonance. That might, along with higher tidal forces from the Sun, be the cause for its weak magnetosphere. To me, Mercury looks like a possible blueprint for us to study and compare to planets in the HZ around red dwarfs, as a possible alternative to full tidal locking.

[@internetuser2414]

Love your videos man! Easy to digest yet so informative and fascinating, cheers from Canada!

[@astralshore]

Jon: “It’s not currently known how…” Me: “Aliens.” Also me: “No just listen to the man, it’s fascinating enough without ‘em”. Rinse and repeat. Apparently, my mind is a Giorgio Tsoukalos 😐

[@jzamb]

John's videos are like a fireball blazing across the night sky. They are always fantastic and you never know when one is coming!

[@THX..1138]

My guess is Mercury was formed from a collision with Venus and it was for a time a moon of Venus. If so Mercury was a planet something like Theia only it hit Venus in blow that stripped off it's outer layers and reversed both Venus and Mercury's rotation. Mercury was then caught in an orbit with Venus that it eventually escaped falling in to a solar orbit. Mercury's elliptical orbit is due to it's being an escaped moon of Venus. Mercury's unusual 3:2 rotational resonance is a product of it being first tidally locked to Venus with it's retrograde rotation then the Sun. Mercury would have been tidally locked to Venus early on after it's formation. As it spiraled out further and further from Venus to be captured by the Sun the influence of having been locked to Venus slowed both Mercury's and Venus's retrograde rotation leaving it with just the right rotation to create the 3:2 synchronous rotational resonance we see today. Once Venus lost it's moon it's retrograde rotation has also been slowing ever since due to tidal locking effects with the Sun. Again an effect we see in Venus today. Mercury being Theia doesn't really explain much, it creates as many mysteries as it solves. On the other hand Mercury having been Venus's Theia could explain many of the peculiarities of both Mercury and Venus.

[@MCsCreations]

Fascinating indeed! Thanks a bunch, John! 😃 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@dilaton1]

I always thought Mercury probably started out as a gas giant that got its atmosphere blown away by solar radiation to be captured by Jupiter and Saturn. The idea that it's the remains of Theia is a new one; if so, as a planetary core, wouldn't Mercury's size suggest that Theia was bigger than the 'Mars size' object that Theia was supposed to be?

[@paige-vt8fn]

JMG just before bedtime! Best way to wind down my week, especially covering Mercury. I can't help that there might be a grand creator who is a huge billiards fan 🎱 😎! Super fascinating stuff about this commonly overlooked planet. Can't wait for you to cover the rest! Thanks again 👍❤

[@stricknine6130]

Great video! I love Mercury, and I think it's sadly often ignored. Thanks for the video!

[@OmegaVideoGameGod]

The JMG AI will continue to amuse us for years and beyond.

[@Reiman33]

I always thought theia might actually be mercury. Really cool to think science is starting to come around to that

[@NoticerOfficial]

John, thank you for being the guy producing content that all those who came before us would have killed to have at their fingertips

[@johnjackson8709]

That's wild you said about mercury possibly being thea. Because I was literally thinking the same thing

[@liminal-waves]

That would be so cool if Mercury is Theia. Thanks JMG.

[@htos1av]

Mercury IS unusual, we talked about this during Apollo, finally have the gear to map it. Forensics will tell all.

[@joshuadelacruz6617]

Whoa. Mercury is metal \m/

[@jfrankcarr]

Back when I was a teenager with a telescope I got to observe the 1973 transit of Mercury across the sun.

[@jamesdoran160]

When you post, I simply must watch the vid and smash that like button

[@MayaUndefined]

earth, moon, mercury -- wow, what a love triangle

[@robbabcock_]

Fantastic! It would be amazing if Mercury is actually Thea!

[@Ussnoss]

we should change the name if proven correct? 😮

[@treystephens6166]

What’s a Thea⁉️

[@RockyRailroadProductions_B0SS]

We don't hear enough about that innermost planet, this video has revealed more intriguing info than I'd first suspected, like its sub-surface sublimation/evaporation. Mercury's magnetic fields are also pretty cool. No idea how we'd make use of them, but, I did write up a short story once about mining robots in Mercury's twilight range. They unionize at one point, but that's neither here nor there, might animate it one day.

[@andrewmaderer1989]

Oh my god I never considered the idea of Mercury being a planetary core and/or being Theia or her remains. Very interesting stuff my friend.

[@deusexaethera]

Mercury isn't Theia. The remnants of Theia are still deep in the Earth's mantle, detectable by differences in the propagation of seismic waves through certain large chunks of the mantle.

[@JohnMichaelGodier]

That assumes that the Theia material constitutes all of Theia. That wasn't suggested by that particular research because the models for that start with a glancing blow. If it was a glancing blow, which the existence of the moon strongly suggests it was, Theia's original mantle is now inside the earth. Its core would be Mercury explaining why Mercury has little mantle material.

[@CybAtSteam]

Why not the core of a gas giant that has been stripped of all its gases? After all, we have found a lot of hot jupiters around other suns, they seem to be quite common.

[@paulohagan3309]

That's another theory that's been suggested.

[@walterwalter-ql1np]

I adore the theory that Mercury is Theia. It makes a lot of sense, and even as a kid when I looked at the MESSENGER images, I remember thinking "Wow, Mercury looks a LOT like Earth's moon"

[@MarcoLandin]

A mind-blowing hypothesis, that Mercury might be Thea. But also, the early solar system was a massive game of billiards, the remnants of Thea could be in the center of the sun, along with the other 2 dozen planetoids mentioned. Mercury may be the one that got away.

[@moemuggy4971]

I came up with this idea years ago when I first heard Mercury was mostly metal, and y'all called me crazy. Now who's laughing?... haha!

[@michaelbartlett6864]

Maybe the collision with earth that created the moon gave mercury its eccentric orbit and tilted its orbital plane. It might also have something to do with the earths tilted axis.

[@ghostcat5303]

Only seen this fleet little object a few times but once was in a spectacular sky which featured all classical planets at once back around 2014 Also: 'copious amounts of trees' eh John? Can't say I'm surprised 😂

[@jamesholland5761]

Great video! Mercury possibly being Thea? Whoo!

[@nbh10101]

I’ve wondered if Mercury is the old core of a hot Jupiter. Would that be possible?

[@treystephens6166]

Possibly.

[@jeff__w]

4:06 “Whatever resulted in Mercury being like it is however is weird because the same sort of thing happened to Earth. The leading model for the formation of the moon is a blow between an object roughly the size of Mars named Theia with proto-earth which flung off the material that formed the moon. This situation may have been unique in the solar system as far as moon formation, but it definitely required a glancing blow of proto-Earth, something Mercury also seems to have required to strip its outer layers.” I thought “Wow, Mercury _is_ Theia!” (How cool would that be?) And then, about three minutes later 7:01, you get to that very theory.

[@NoPulseForRussians]

Can't wait to see data return from ESA's BepiColumbo Mission.

[@stevenpilling5318]

That Theia hypothesis really grabbed me. Talk about "Worlds in Collision"! I'm not trying to invoke Velikovsky here, but the comparison is interesting. What a lost take of adventure may be Mercury's!

[@peterplotts1238]

This was well done, but they are all well done. I never imagined that Mercury was so interesting or that it may be the remnant of Thera and, therefore, intimately connected to the formation of the Earth. It left me wondering, "Why didn't I think of that? But, in this, I might be flattering myself.

[@digilyd]

So, is the Asteroidbelt the original outer parts of Mercury and was it there it formed?

[@davidwhitney1171]

I was an enthusiastic amateur astronomer in my teen years, with my own little rooftop telescope observatory. As such, I was privileged to be able to observe Mercury, both with the naked eye and through ny telescope - it displays phases like the moon and Venus. I was also able to observe several transits of Mercury across the sun, which unlikely transits of Venus occur relatively often...

[@summerparix1959]

It would be so cool if you were to do a video investigating the Betty and Barney Hill alien abduction case! I would love to hear your thoughts on the star map betty drew! ❤

[@davidrose8336]

First among planets, first among comments.

[@Voshchronos]

Damn, Mercury being Theia would be absolutely mind-blowing.

[@shirk_slayer]

Mercury being the core of a gas giant with the atmosphere burned off is my theory

[@HugeGamma]

there must be a latitude near the poles where the temperature is a cozy 70F constantly.. would that make sense?

[@michaelrenouf9173]

No. There’s no atmosphere on mercury

[@DarrenNugent-md4kd]

Mad one jhon if this comes to pass what will it mean for our planet? As always much strangeness from a great channel 👍

[@GizzyDillespee]

Well, if ANY rockstar deserved to get a planet named after them, I suppose the Queen singer (if not Bowie) was a good choice.

[@Sivanot]

What

[@boobah5643]

@@Sivanot He is, for comedic effect, claiming that the planet and/or Roman god is named after Freddie Mercury.

[@ricknielson1947]

JMG still my #1 youtube. "idea... Mercury is Theia and the debris stripped from it is now contained in the Moon and Earth"

[@LazyRare]

Keep em coming! I love this

[@arcadiaberger9204]

With its 88-day year and 59-day period of rotation, 176 days pass between one Sunrise and the next on any given spot. This suggests that people living on Mercury would use a calendar of 176 Earth-type days. After all, whether the Sun is in the sky and how long it's been since the last Sunrise would be one of the most important aspects of life on Mercury. I'm really struck (no pun intended) by the idea of Mercury being Theia. If Venus is our "sister planet", would that make Mercury our "father planet", then?

[@matthewdavies2057]

If it is Theia do we change the name to Theia out of respect and a debit owed or do we call the before planetoid Theia and the after impact core Mercury as we do now?

[@mattparker9726]

@John Michael Godier Have you considered our solar system as a binary system? Most other solar systems are multi star systems. Why is ours so different?

[@TeeLow]

A little off topic but the last part made me think of it: are you looking forward to the eclipse this year? I’m pretty excited I’m actually gonna be off work for this one 😂

[@sfurtado3]

Thank you brother! As always, awesome content... for reeeeaallll

[@sfurtado3]

Lol I'll always be here but I listen sometimes and wonder if the outro is gonna change. Gotta say I love that ish

[@arvelcrynyd6311]

I say we build a track around the equator of Mercury and have a lab that goes around that track, always in the twilight, so it’s not too hot or cold for those inside. The track would constantly be subjected to extreme hot and cold though, so it’d have to be made outta some really durable material. But it’d be cool.

[@Anansi1701]

If the darker material happens to Be graphite than there you go. Between that and the silicates there should be the materials for the track... or we could make the lab vehicle mounted and it just circumnavigates Mercury, staying in the terminator.

[@boobah5643]

If you do it right, the heating of the tracks pushes the lab.

[@iprobablyforgotsomething]

Normal speed: interesting! .75 speed: soothing for sleepytimes

[@WillisVision]

Decades back, probably in the 90's, I remember hearing a theory that Mercury may be the core of a hot Jupiter after the Sun stripped away its atmosphere, and that's why it has such a large mass. You didn't mention that theory so I'll assume it has been disproven.

[@vapormissile]

"if you don't count Pluto" ❤ 😭

[@dinok7630]

Never forget

[@dinok7630]

What hey took from us

[@brianSalem541]

Poor Pluto. Always ignored or insulted.

[@LAMPROS311]

Listening to the video I was thinking that maybe Mercury is Theia and boom! Here is John sharing the same hypothesis. PS "Theia" in ancient Greek is the feminine of "divine" but in modern Greek it means "aunt".

[@nicu6008]

Any update on wow signal?

[@SonriseSunset]

Oooooh, very interesting video!! TY!

[@alfredmartin2891]

Fascinating! Thanks.

[@markbuonagura2465]

Loved this video

[@guildpilotone]

Did a collision with Mercury create the moon?

[@nutgone100]

I love that theory, but for some reason it’s poo-poo’d by mainstream science.

[@SirHeinzbond]

i really would love to see the Mushroom Habs on Mercury, the floating cities of Venus, Crater Cities of Luna, the Domed Lands of Mars, the Chandelier Cities on the Gas Giants, and the Giant Man Made Acheron River Elevator Structure between Pluto and Charon...

[@BeYoND_9000]

6th comment let’s go! JMD FTW ONG LIIIIVE

[@handbananaistherapist642]

I have actually seen Uranus (insert joke here) with my naked eye during a Lunar Eclipse a few years ago, yet have never seen Mercury. Damn trees and all that oxygen noise!

[@JamesKelleyJr]

For bodies in a stars circular orbit that slowly migrate eventually overlapping causing collisions wouldn't the glancing blow be the overwhelming standard? These bodies have been in a orbit long enough to form from bits of dirt dust and rubble being the working theory I don't see them suddenly jumping into another lane for a head on... or a rear-on i suppose as everyone in our solar system travels the same direction around the sun.

[@Yezpahr]

I hope Zoozve at least gets a mention in the next video. (quasi-moon of Venus) BTW, In that computer animation which showed how the moon possibly formed in a few hours it also showed a 2nd object, roughly Mercury-sized. Could that have been more than just a coincidence of the model? Could it have been dancing with our Moon and get ejected to the current orbit?

[@rambultruesdell3412]

As seen from the New Mexico 475 near its summit is a lookout where Mercury sometimes is visible just after sundown. Small. Bright.

[@mikehenderson631]

I'd like to ask a question, sir. Is there any theories on why Venus is running so slow? Spend so slow and to me. It sounds like it's almost gone in. Probably gonna end up being completely totally locked eventually.

[@djdrack4681]

Want to destroy a star? Just take a denser object, place it in close orbit around the star, and spin up its angular velocity to a stupid level (a la pulsar speed)... It'll slowly leech mass/material from the star, until the object itself becomes a star OR it destabilizes the star, causing an exotic novae type.

[@theholyghost]

Mercury is one of the few planets in our solar system a person in an astronaut suit could stand on the surface of (assuming you stay on the dark side) and not have to worry about dying immediately.

[@JuuJuuism]

Great episode :)

[@robertward8035]

Could there be enough iron in Mercury to one day affect the sun?

[@darthrainbows]

My personal favorite theory for Mercury is that it is the core of an ice giant that migrated to the inner solar system and lost its atmosphere to the solar wind.

[@kevanhubbard9673]

Mercury is easier to see naked eye than Uranus.... just.I only look for Mercury in the evening sky and use my 2x40 widefield binoculars (the reason I don't look in the morning sky is twofold;1/I'm asleep!2/there's a risk of clipping the rising Sun in your binoculars).

[@tardiscommand1812]

“Is Mercury over there?” “No, it’s over sphere”

[@HH-ru4bj]

Now, this pure speculation on my part, but i have this thought (maybe picked it up elsewhere and long since forgotten where), that the composition of planets is tied to how the stratification of elements occurs in solar nebulas. The closer to the star, the higher the composition of heavy elements, and rockier they will tend to be.

[@boobah5643]

The problem with this is all the close-in gas giants we're finding. Mind, there's more than a little bias here, since big planets are easier to spot and, since they traverse their sun more often, close planets are also easier to spot. Which is to say that close gas giants are far easier to spot than just about any other kind of planet.

[@thethirtythree482]

Great video

[@jlee1014]

Thank you, again!!!

[@17wolf359]

I think Occam's razor would apply here....with the commonality of so called "hot gas giants", isn't it possible it is what's left of a hot gas giant after the atmosphere has been stripped away? As it's mass decreased, it moved further away from the sun to it's current orbit. That sounds much more plausible than it hitting a number of other planets including the earth (like a giant pin ball) until it finally ended up where it is now.

[@0037kevin]

C'mon JMG tell the truth, you were in the Mohave for a star party, you were there for Fallout New Vegas cosplay. Im picturing you in Brotherhood of Steel, probably with E-de as companion.

[@davidbellecy1709]

Mercury is so metal.

[@RandallBohannan]

I always wondered if Mercury might be the remnants of a hot Jupiter & what we see today is just the core that is all that's left.

[@Justhatguy1]

I have had the thought before that Mercury was once the core of our sun, possibly perturbed by a passing star. Slowing in spin with the materials of the sun and spiraling to the surface. Finally somewhat stabilizing in its current chaotic orbit. Isn't the moon covered in helium 3? We could probe Mercury to see if the ratios are similar.