Unusual Hollows Discovered on Planet Mercury
Explanation:
What are those unusual features on planet Mercury?
The slightly bluish tinge of features dubbed hollows has been exaggerated on the
above image by the robotic
MESSENGER spacecraft currently
orbiting Mercury.
The rounded depressions appear different than impact craters and nothing like them
has been noted on
Earth's Moon or anywhere else in the
Solar System.
The
above image is a section of the floor of
Raditladi
impact basin about 40 kilometers wide that includes the
mountains of the central peak.
One
progenitor hypothesis is that the hollows formed from the
sublimation of
material exposed
and heated during the violent impact that created the
Raditladi basin.
NASA's
MESSENEGER is the first space spacecraft ever to orbit Mercury, and is
currently scheduled to explore the Solar System's innermost planet into 2013.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
