Mercury as Revealed by MESSENGER
Explanation:
Mercury had never been seen like this before.
In 2008, the robotic
MESSENGER spacecraft buzzed past
Mercury
for the second time and imaged terrain mapped previously only by
comparatively crude radar.
The featured image was recorded as
MESSENGER looked back 90 minutes after passing,
from an altitude of about 27,000 kilometers.
Visible in the image, among many other newly imaged features,
are unusually long
rays that appear to run like
meridians of
longitude
out from a young crater near the northern limb.
MESSENGER entered orbit around
Mercury in 2011 and finished its primary mission in 2012, but took
detailed measurements until
2015, at which time it ran out of fuel and so was instructed to
impact Mercury's surface.
New Moon Tonight:
The next New Moon will block the Sun.
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.
