The mystery of Mercury’s missing meteorites – and how we may have finally found some

Mercury seen by Nasa's Messenger spacecraft on the left. On the right, there's an approximation of Mercury’s true colour as might be seen by the human eye. NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Most meteorites that have reached Earth come from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. But we have 1,000 or so meteorites that come from the Moon and Mars. This is probably a result of asteroids hitting their surfaces and ejecting material towards our planet.

It should also be physically possible for such debris to reach the Earth from Mercury, another nearby rocky body. But so far, none have been confirmed to come from there – presenting a longstanding mystery.