Since the 1990s, radio astronomers have mapped Mercury. An outstanding curiosity is that in the polar regions, some craters appear to have “anomalous reflectivity” in the shadowed areas of these craters. One interpretation is that this is caused by subsurface ice. The MESSENGER spacecraft hopes to explore this issue in the next few years. In this activity, students will measure the surface areas of these potential ice deposits and calculate the volume of water that they imply.
Ratios and Proportions
ACTIVITY MODULE
Eighth grade, Ninth grade, Tenth grade