
There are no moons of Mercury, although some hypothetical moons have been disproven.
Hermes[]
Hermes (nicknamed Hermes, no official name) would be an undiscovered natural satellite orbiting the planet Mercury. One was briefly thought to exist in the early 1970s, but it turned out to be misinterpreted data from a star, 31 Crateris. Observation of a moon of Mercury from Earth would be difficult because Mercury is relatively close to the Sun. For example, Mercury was not observed in the infrared spectrum until 1995. NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, which orbited Mercury from 2011 to 2015, did not detect any moon.[1]
Caduceus[]
On April 1, 2012 (April Fool's Day), NASA posted a joke post, saying that a new moon around Mercury was discovered, called Caduceus.
Bibliography[]
Hypothetical Bodies, Hypothetical Objects, Hypothetical Regions and Hypotheses | ||
---|---|---|
Hypothetical planets | Inner Solar System | Enyo and Bellona • Vulcan • Counter-Earth • Nibiru • Theia • Phaeton • Planet V • Krypton |
Outer Solar System | Fifth Giant • Uranus Impactor • Triton’s Binary Partner • Haumea Impactor • Quaoar Impactor • Brahma • Vishnu • Oceanus • Hades • Planet Nine • Planet Ten • Rodney's Planet • Planet X • Pickering's Planets • Trans-Plutonian planet • Tyche • Oort cloud planet | |
Hypothetical Moons | Inner Solar System | Disproven Moons of Mercury • Neith • Petit's moon • Waltemath's moons • Bagby's Moons • Moons of Pallas • Moon of Hebe |
Outer Solar System | Chiron • Chrysalis • Themis • Sedna I • Varuna I • Herschel's Moons | |
Hypothetical Stellar Objects | Nemesis • Coatlicue | |
Hypothetical Regions | Vulcanoid Belt • Hills Cloud • Oort cloud | |
Hypotheses and Models | Himalia Crash Theory • Iapetus' Ring System • Nibiru cataclysm • Rings of the Moon |