The planet Mercury
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Mercury: The planet that shouldn't exist
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251223-mercury-the-planet-that-shouldnt-exist
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I hate the very first sentence, "Far smaller and closer to the Sun than it should be..."
Should be?
I know it's a just a turn of phrase (a mindless one), but there is subtle messaging behind such innocuous sounding words. Mercury is what it is. The third paragraph starts out much better, "Planetary scientists remain flummoxed by the very existence of the closest planet to our Sun." But that doesn't stop the shoulds and shouldn'ts from reappearing further down. And it get's worse. "Astronomers first realised something was wrong with Mercury ...." Wrong? How about saying it was anomalous to their expectations and current understanding?
There is a lot of bad science reporting and it's a peeve of mine.
The topic of the article is interesting, though.
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I hate the very first sentence, "Far smaller and closer to the Sun than it should be..."
Should be?
I know it's a just a turn of phrase (a mindless one), but there is subtle messaging behind such innocuous sounding words. Mercury is what it is. The third paragraph starts out much better, "Planetary scientists remain flummoxed by the very existence of the closest planet to our Sun." But that doesn't stop the shoulds and shouldn'ts from reappearing further down. And it get's worse. "Astronomers first realised something was wrong with Mercury ...." Wrong? How about saying it was anomalous to their expectations and current understanding?
There is a lot of bad science reporting and it's a peeve of mine.
The topic of the article is interesting, though.
@Bernard said in The planet Mercury:
I hate the very first sentence, "Far smaller and closer to the Sun than it should be..."
Should be?
The topic of the article is interesting
Two peas in a pod we are. I had exactly the same thoughts.
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Given the wide variety of planets in our own solar system and some even stranger moons, there seems to be alot to learn about even our solar neighborhood, let alone the flocks of exoplanets now being found. I really hope we don't curtail our exploration of the universe. If the USA is short-sighted, then at least there are other nations and entities in the search for more knowledge.
Big Al
