Part 5/7:
A collaborative team of researchers from Brazil, Germany, and France proposes a compelling explanation for Mercury's unusual characteristics. Their study, recently published on the archive preprint server, presents a theory suggesting that Mercury's formation may have resulted from a colossal collision, referred to as “hit-and-run,” involving Mercury and another planet-sized protoplanet. The researchers argue that this oblique collision, occurring millions of years after the formation of the solar system, could account for Mercury’s disproportionately large iron core while allowing the retention of volatile elements such as potassium, sulfur, and sodium—all of which would be destroyed in more violent encounters.