Ice found on Mercury

[sologuitarist61]

This is quite interesting

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/Mercurys-Polar-Ice-Defies-the-Odds-181444201.html

[turbotim]

There saying they found organic molecules and ice!

[sologuitarist61]

What with that and the liquid seen on Mars recently, wouldn't it be strange if it was found that the solar system is actually teeming with life - just not quite what we expected it to be!

[Capricorn]

As it explains water at the poles is possible owing to the almost absence of tilt that Mercury has. Organic compounds mean in chemical terms anything with carbon atoms, so methane is one and there is a lot of that in this solar system - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. So why not a little, very little, on Mercury.

The term organic is somewhat misleading as Organic chemistry is huge but is not exclusive to life in any way, sugar is organic, ethanol and all the other alcohols are organic, petrol and diesel in your cars are organic. The use of organic as a term is somewhat sensationalist.

As for teaming with life the artical says water and the organic compounds would only be in shielded craters on Mercury, Venus is highly acidic and very hot, Earth has a bit of life on it and we have yet to identify anything on Mars. Not exactly teaming.