A Nasa spacecraft has found further tantalizing evidence for the existence of water ice at Mercury's poles, the BBC reported.
Though surface temperatures can soar above 400C, some craters at Mercury's poles are permanently in the shade, turning them into so-called "cold traps." Previous work has revealed patches near Mercury's poles that strongly reflect radar - a characteristic of ice.
Now, the Messenger probe has shown that these "radar-reflecting" patches line up precisely with the shaded craters.
However, Nancy Chabot from John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory warns that this does not constitute of proof, and for many craters, icy deposits would need to be covered by a thin layer (10-20cm) of insulating debris in order to remain stable.