The 300-mile-long long channel cutting across craters on Mercury in this image from MESSENGER was first identified in October of 2008, giving scientists clues to a geologic history found nowhere else in our solar system. Deep cracks like this, found all over the planet, are thought to be caused by the contraction of Mercury as…
Tag: Messenger
Picasso, Pits (and other things that start with “P”)
The recently-named Picasso crater on Mercury, shown in the center of this image, is 83 miles wide and features an interestingly-shaped depression in its center that’s thought to have been caused by the collapse of a magma chamber beneath the surface. Features like this are important to planetary scientists because they indicate the existence of…
Details of Rembrandt
Within the 440-mile-wide Rembrandt impact basin on Mercury we find radiating fractures extending across a central plain and a younger sharp-edged crater, the tip of its central peak peeking into the sunlight. This impact basin was discovered by the MESSENGER spacecraft in October of 2008. It is one of the youngest impact basins on Mercury,…
Now With 6% More Mercury!
With the third and last flyby of Mercury by the MESSENGER spacecraft, NASA scientists have now imaged nearly 98 percent of the surface of the first planet from our sun. The photo above shows a color-calibrated view of a crescent Mercury, acquired on September 29. This will be the last close-up color image of Mercury…
From a Distance
The MESSENGER spacecraft took this photo of Mercury on October 10, 2009, from a distance of almost 2 million miles. Just days earlier, MESSENGER flew over the surface of the innermost planet at an altitude of only 140 miles. With no atmosphere to disperse heat, the day side of Mercury can reach nearly 800º F…
Finding Relief
On September 29, 2009 the MESSENGER spacecraft, soaring 10,000 miles above the northern hemisphere of Mercury, captured this image of the rugged terrain of our solar system’s smallest planet. Sharp hills, undulating ridges and craters of all sizes gouge the surface of Mercury, not only the smallest planet but also the densest and least explored,…
First Rock From The Sun
While approaching the planet for the third flyby of its mission, the MESSENGER spacecraft took this photo of Mercury, crescent-lit by the sun and showing terrain that has never been imaged before. The region along the planet’s limb, the brightest area seen here, had yet to be mapped by the spacecraft’s cameras. It contains many…
All About Abedin
This image from the MESSENGER spacecraft shows the crater Abedin, recently named after Bangladeshi painter Zainul Abedin. The 68-mile-wide crater exhibits a central peak structure and is surrounded by lines of smaller craters, most likely caused by the ejected debris from the initial impact. Most of the features on Mercury have been named after the…
Mercury’s Lunacy
This image, chosen as the Astronomy Picture of the Day, shows a view of Mercury’s cratered surface that is remarkably similar to our own moon’s terrain. This hints at a similar volcanic past, with lava flows filling in craters and smoothing their surfaces over. This image was taken in October of 2008 by…
Painting a Portrait of Mercury
Previously unknown before MESSENGER’s second flyby on October 6, 2008, the Rembrandt Crater is a young impact basin on the surface of Mercury. It is approximately 430 miles wide…large enough to span the distance from Washington, DC to Boston. Of course, “young” is a relative term here; the basin is estimated to be 3.9 billion…
A Featureless Face
This photo taken by the Messenger spacecraft in June of last year shows the ghostly pale and nearly featureless face of Venus, our sister planet. Shot in visible light and RGB-calibrated by Gordan Ugarkovic, the global shroud of Venus’ oppressive (and corrosive) atmosphere lacks the swirling detail seen in most photos of the planet, which…
A Cratered Crescent
The pocked and pitted surface of Mercury comes into view in this image from the Messenger spacecraft, taken during its approach on October 6, 2008. Messenger has one more flyby of Mercury to complete in September of this year before it finally maneuvers into orbit in 2011. It will be the first spacecraft to…
Lights in the Dark 