Mercury has a vast region of smooth volcanic plains surrounding its northern polar region, wrapping over a third of the way around the planet. But even though the plains are called smooth, they are still characteristically rugged – made obvious in this narrow-angle camera image from MESSEGER acquired December 13. Being an area close to…
Tag: craters
Into The Darkness
The rugged terrain of Mercury’s north pole is made clear in this image from MESSENGER, taken on June 17, 2011. The shallow angle of sunlight striking the surface of our solar system’s innermost planet sends shadows across its landscape and highlights every rise and ridge. This scene shows an area about 74 miles across. MESSENGER…
iseefaces…on the Moon!
This mound – with craters positioned facelike on its top, including a central peak crater – is located along the edge of the Moon’s Eddington crater, an ancient lava-filled basin on the central western limb. Imaged by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in January, this 1.5km-wide mound may be the remnants of a volcano. Or it…
Craters Young and Old
This image from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) shows two similarly-sized craters in the Oceanus Procellarum (“Sea of Storms”) region of the Moon – a large mare on the Earth-facing side, on the northwestern edge. One crater is surrounded and covered by boulders and debris, denoting its young age compared to the smooth,…
The Colors of Mercury
Another new wide-angle image from MESSENGER in orbit, this is a color image of Mercury made from data taken in red, green and blue visible light wavelengths. Variations in surface textures and colorations can be seen, as well as long bright streaks running horizontally – these are the ejecta rays extending from Hokusai Crater, off-frame…
Is Mercury Hiding Water Ice?
A new image from MESSENGER showing craters amidst smooth plains. Acquired March 29, 2011. A new image from MESSENGER, released today March 30, 2011, shows relatively smooth plains near Mercury’s north pole dotted by some relatively large craters. Seen at an oblique angle, the low angle of sunlight emphasizes the relief of the…
Lunar Hues
Look up at the moon on any clear night and you’ll see a cratered world shining down on you, in some phase of illumination or perhaps even full and round, with a few lighter or darker areas but for the most part all in cool, bright shades of whites and greys. The moon’s real colors…
Details of Dione
Here’s some awesome just-released raw images from Cassini’s flyby of Dione earlier this morning! The low angle of sunlight brings out the detail of the moon’s rugged terrain, peppered with ancient craters of all sizes and gouged by long scars of steep, icy cliffs. Fantastic! Thanks to team leader Carolyn Porco for alerting us to…
Hyperion
Here’s a wonderful color mosaic of Saturn’s moon Hyperion, assembled by Gordan Ugarkovic from four Cassini narrow-angle camera images. The moon’s heavily cratered sponge-like surface can be seen in vivid detail due to the high phase angle of sunlight, making its rough texture even more pronounced. At 255 x 163 x 137 miles in diameter,…
I can has craters?
Looking like sand on a beach after a hard rain, the surface of Rhea is literally coated with craters of all sizes, to the point where it’s hard to tell where one ends and another begins. These raw images are fresh in from Cassini’s flyby of Saturn’s second-largest moon, which occurred yesterday. The spacecraft passed…
Three Little Moons
A little family portrait from the house of Saturn. Enceladus, Tethys and Dione. Okay, they weren’t really all lined up like that….I combined three raw shots from Cassini, taken over the weekend, and lined them up nicely. Approximate sizes in relation to each other. Just for fun. Great images though! Tethys’ huge 250-mile-wide Odysseus crater…
Lights in the Dark 