Before this week, maps of the planet Mercury were mostly blank. Mariner 10 flybys of the 1970s had photographed only 45% of the planet's surface. But now the unseen side has been revealed:
NASA's Messenger spacecraft took this picture from a range of 17,000 miles on Jan. 14, 2008. At first glance, it seems to show little more than a repetitive expanse of craters. But researchers are excited. One of the craters is the giant Caloris Basin never before seen in its entirety. Formed by the impact of a large asteroid or comet, Caloris is one of the largest and perhaps youngest basins in the Solar System. Close-up photos of the 800-mile-wide crater (still being downloaded from the spacecraft) may reveal new things about the history of Mercury and the physics of catastrophic impacts.
See for yourself -- This month, you can see Mercury with your own eyes; just look west any evening after sunset. "As the twilight deepened, Mercury stepped onto the stage and sparkled like a superstar!" reports Doug Zubenel of DeSoto, Kansas. He took these pictures on Jan. 15th.
No comments:
Post a Comment