While observing various objects in and beyond our solar system, scientists found evidence that some of them seemed to be shrinking. So what’s going on and is it going to the Earth?

In 1974, NASA’s mariner 10 passed by Mercury, and discovered evidence that Mercury, the smallest planet in the Solar System. This evidence was collected from the slopes of miles heights, known as “slits” all over the planet. While they were shrinking due to the planetary thermal cooling, the faults under the slopes called “pushing” were also in.

Scientists explain this: “Since the interior of Mercury shrinks, the surface (peel) gradually occupies less space.

David Rothery, a professor of planetary geology at the open university and an article dated 2023 examining the shrinkage of the planet, in an article he wrote for The Conversation, “This is similar to wrinkles on an apple as he gets older, but he shrinks because of the thermal shrinkage of the inside of the Mercury. “he explains.

Astronomers concluded that the gaps in Mercury were mostly about 3 billion years old. However, in the 2023 study, the team found evidence that the planet’s shrinkage has not yet ended because Mercury continued to cool.

A similar shrinkage is also in question for the moon. In 2010, astronomers looking at the Moon’s geology made discoveries that the Moon was smaller. Again, the team facing the cliffs, this time Apollo 15, 16 and 17 in the images taken from the cameras, the Moon shrinks as it cools down and this was quite soon.

Like people who shrink as they get older …

The world is slightly more complex than Moon and Mercury due to its thicker atmosphere. The world earns some mass because it falls about 40,000 tons of materials (dust and rock) on our planet every year. However, this is considered insignificant compared to the amount of gas that escapes from our atmosphere to space.

Microbiologist and Science Communication In an interview with the BBC, Chris Smith showed that physicists have lost about three kilograms of every second [6,6 pounds]. Light gas is helium and there is much less helium around it, so we lose about 1,600 tons of helium a year. “

Smith, which balances other factors, such as the loss of energy while the cooling of the core and the planet gaining some energy due to climate change, is estimated that the Earth is lightening about 50,000 tons each year. It sounds dramatic to this ear, but we’re talking about a loss of about 0,000000000000001 %of the total mass of the planet.

In the meantime, scientists, including a series of techniques, including satellite laser measurement at the level of millimeters, found that the world’s general radius has changed by about 0.1 millimeters per year, which corresponds to a value close to the width of a human hair.

In short, the world shrinks like Mercury and the Moon. But this shrinkage is almost almost non -existent …