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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Unnamed_Craters-PIA17827-PCF-LXTT-IPF-00.jpgMercurian Nightfall (CTX Frame - Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)71 visiteWith the Sun already extremely low in the Sky over this Mercurian Region located in the Northern Hemisphere of the Innermost Planet of the Solar System (the Sun is only about 8° above the imaged Local Horizon), the long, deep and dark Shadows created by this specific Spatial Configuration, accentuate the very uneven (---> highly irregular) nature of the Terrain.
In fact, the Surface visible here (---> we are looking at a scene which is about 14,6 Km - such as a very little more than 9 miles - across) has been battered - for eons and eons - by a countless number of Meteors and other Cosmic Impactors, until the Hilly Surface that exists and we can see today was finally created. For the most attentive Viewers, we, as IPF, strongly suggest you to take a careful look at the (very unusually-looking) Surface Feature (probably an oblong Secondary Crater with a strange - and still illuminated - Central Peak) that is located on the lower portion of the frame, slightly towards the left (Sx).
Date acquired: November, 12th, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 26543484
Image ID: 5181047
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 67,11° North
Center Longitude: 249,80° East
Solar Incidence Angle: 82,0° (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the picture was taken, was about 8,0° above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 36,9°
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 118,9°
This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft's b/w and NON-Map-Projected image published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 17827) has been additionally processed, contrast enhanced, Gamma corrected, magnified to aid the visibility of the details and then colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft and then looked outside, towards the Surface of Mercury), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. Different colors, as well as different shades of the same color, mean, among other things, the existence of different Elements (Minerals) present on the Surface of Mercury, each having a different Albedo (---> Reflectivity) and Chemical Composition.MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Unnamed_Craters-PIA17827-PCF-LXTT-IPF-2.jpgMercurian Nightfall (EDM - Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)82 visiteWith the Sun already extremely low in the Sky over this Mercurian Region located in the Northern Hemisphere of the Innermost Planet of the Solar System (the Sun is only about 8° above the imaged Local Horizon), the long, deep and dark Shadows created by this specific Spatial Configuration, accentuate the very uneven (---> highly irregular) nature of the Terrain.
This picture, which is just a Magnified Crop taken from yesterdy's frame, shows, to the most attentive Viewers, a very unusually-looking Surface Feature whose origin and nature cannot be identified with certainty. However, it could - probably - be an oblong Secondary Crater with a strange - and still illuminated - Central Peak, or, maybe, a Wall-like Relief that divides the Floor of a Pit Crater. Again, as we said herebefore, a definitive answer about what we are actually looking at, cannot be given at this time.
The Feature here, if you wish to take a look at the so-called Contextual Image (CTX Frame), is located on the lower portion of the frame, slightly towards the left (Sx).
Date acquired: November, 12th, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 26543484
Image ID: 5181047
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 67,11° North
Center Longitude: 249,80° East
Solar Incidence Angle: 82,0° (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the picture was taken, was about 8,0° above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 36,9°
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 118,9°
This picture (which is a crop taken by an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft's b/w and NON-Map-Projected image published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 17827) has been additionally processed, contrast enhanced, Gamma corrected, magnified to aid the visibility of the details and then colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft and then looked outside, towards the Surface of Mercury), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. Different colors, as well as different shades of the same color, mean, among other things, the existence of different Elements (Minerals) present on the Surface of Mercury, each having a different Albedo (---> Reflectivity) and Chemical Composition.MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Rupes-PIA11012.jpgMercurian Rupes53 visiteGiant scarps (cliffs), called rupes (see PIA10609), are believed to have formed when Mercury’s interior cooled and the entire Planet shrank slightly as a result. This figure, recently published in Science magazine, shows one of these scarps (white arrows) that is about 270 Km (approx. 170 miles) long.
This portion of Mercury’s surface was seen during the Mariner 10 flybys, but this scarp, despite its large size, was not visible in the Mariner 10 photos because the Sun was nearly overhead at the time and, consequently, the scarp did not cast a discernable shadow.
In contrast, MESSENGER acquired a mosaic of this area (see PIA10605) before the spacecraft’s closest approach to the Planet, when this portion of the Surface was near the Terminator, the line between the sunlit dayside and the dark night side of the Planet. Such lighting produced long shadows, enabling this rupes to be recognized for the first time.
Date Acquired: January 14, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): Mosaic of images from 108821370, 108821375, 108821397 and 108821402
Instrument: A: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Terminator-PIA10609.jpgMercurian Rupes (MULTISPECTRUM; credits: Lunexit)53 visiteWhen MESSENGER flew by Mercury on January 14, 2008, the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) snapped images of a large portion of Mercury's surface that had not been previously seen by spacecraft. On these images, new examples of long cliffs were identified and viewed for the first time. This image, taken by the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), shows one of those cliffs in the bottom right corner. The cliff can be followed from the bottom edge of the image, cutting through and deforming an impact crater, and curving out of the image frame on the middle right edge.
This cliff is the northern continuation of the cliff visible in the images previously released on January 16 (PIA10174) and January 27 (PIA10194). This image shows an area of Mercury's surface about 200 Km (about 125 miles) across, and by tracing this cliff through the three images, it can be seen that it extends for hundreds of kilometers.
Cliffs that mark geologic escarpments on Mercury are called "rupes", which is simply the Latin word for cliff. On Mercury, rupes are named after the ships of famous explorers, and names include Discovery Rupes, for a ship of Captain Cook, Santa Maria Rupes, for a ship of Christopher Columbus, and Victoria Rupes, for a ship of Ferdinand Magellan. (The word rupes is both singular and plural).
The MESSENGER Team proposed to the International Astronomical Union, which has the final say on all names of landforms on planets and satellites, that this cliff be named the Beagle Rupes, after the ship on which naturalist Charles Darwin sailed around the world.
Today the MESSENGER Team received word that the proposed name has received formal approval.
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 108827037
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ZZ-Mercury-Global_View_of_the_Surface-PIA10607.jpgMercurian Symphony (MULTISPECTRUM-2; credits: Lunexit)53 visiteCaption NASA:"When Mariner 10 flew by Mercury in 1974, morning sunlight was just striking Mozart Crater so that most of the feature was hidden in darkness near the Terminator. During MESSENGER's Mercury flyby on January 14, 2008, Mozart was in full sunlight, allowing the Crater to be seen in detail for the first time, as shown in this image snapped by the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS). Named in honor of the classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart is the large crater near the center of the image. The Crater's diameter is about 225 Km (such as approx. 140 miles). The arc of dark hills visible on the Crater's floor probably represents remnants of a central peak ring, similar to that shown in the January 30 image release (PIA10378). Clues to the origin of the dark material on the peak ring and the curious dark streaks radiating outward from the Crater will be provided by 11-color image data collected by the Spacecraft's Wide Angle Camera (WAC).
A close inspection of the area around Mozart Crater shows many long chains of secondary craters, formed by impact of material thrown out during the formation of the main crater.
Mozart Crater is located just South of the Caloris Basin and can be identified in the false color image previously released (PIA10398).
Members of the MESSENGER Science Team are currently studying and characterizing the small craters on Mercury in order to provide new insight into the cratering process as it operates on the different planets in the Solar System.
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 108830250
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ZZ-Mercury-Terminator-PIA14195-PCF-LXTT.jpgMercurian Terminator (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)194 visiteDate acquired: March 31, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 210035203
Image ID: 71446
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 83,17° South
Center Longitude: 250,9° East
Resolution: 1833 mt/pixel
Scale: the center of this image is about 1970 Km (approx. 1225 miles) acrossMareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Terninator_Line-PIA16360-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgMercurian Terminator (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)87 visiteThis striking image shows the progression of Daylight across the Surface of Mercury and the line separating the night from the day is called "Terminator". Scientists have studied interesting phenomena occurring near the Terminator of the Moon for years. Such occurrences involve the interaction between Lunar Dust and Charged Solar Particles (---> the Ions making the Solar Wind). Because Mercury's Regolith is exposed to almost ten times as many Charged Particles as the Moon, it is an excellent place to study the effects of Solar Radiation on Surface Materials. In this unprojected image, North is to the right.
This image was acquired as part of MDIS's campaign to monitor the South Polar Region of Mercury. By imaging the Polar Regions approximately every 4 (four) MESSENGER orbits as illumination conditions change, the Surface Features that were in the shadows on earlier orbits, can be discerned and any permanently shadowed areas can also be identified after repeated imaging over One Solar Day. During MESSENGER's one-year primary mission, MDIS's WAC was used to monitor the South Polar Regions for the first Mercury Solar Day (which corresponds to 176 Earth Days), and MDIS's NAC made repeated images of the South Polar Regions during the second Mercury Solar Day.
Date acquired: August 01, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 220726567
Image ID: 579208
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 84.97° South Lat.
Center Longitude: 75,81° East Long.
Resolution: 1500 meters/pixel
Scale: the large crater at the bottom center is approx. 155 km (such as about 96 miles) in diameter.
Solar Incidence Angle: 84,9° (meaning that the Sun, at the picture was taken, was about 5,1° above the Imaged Local Horizon)
Emission Angle: 23,8°
Sun-Mercury-MESSENGER (or "Phase") Angle: 97,0°MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Terminator-PIA12045.jpgMercurian Terminator (Natural Colors; credits: Lunar Explorer Italia)53 visiteThis high-resolution NAC image shows a view of Mercury's Dawn Terminator, the division between the sunlit dayside and dark nightside of the planet, as seen as the MESSENGER Spacecraft departed the Planet during the mission's second Mercury flyby.
This frame is just one of 195 images that make up the second NAC mosaic obtained following closest approach (see PIA11767). A mosaic is a series of images that form a larger picture, in this case a high-resolution view of a portion of Mercury's Northern Hemisphere. This image is also just one of the 1287 total images acquired during Mercury flyby 2.
Last week, all of the images (as well as data from MESSENGER's other instruments) collected during Mercury flyby 2 were made publicly available on NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS) website, giving scientists around the world access to this exciting new dataset.
Date Acquired: January 14, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 108829034
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 590 meters/pixel (0,37 miles)
Scale: Moody is approx. 80 Km (about 50 miles) in diameter
Spacecraft Altitude: about 23.100 Km (approx. 14.300 miles)MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Terminator-PIA14357.jpgMercurian Terminator (credits for the additional process. and color.: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)79 visiteCaption NASA:"The Terminator of Mercury, shown here in color, is the line between light and dark, or day and night. On Mercury, three days are equivalent to two years or, in other words, the Planet spins around its axis three times for every two orbits around the Sun. The first Mercury year of the MESSENGER mission ended on Monday, June 13, 2011".
Date acquired: June 07, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 215945273, 215943853, 215945277
Image ID: 349804, 349803, 349805
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 9 (1000 nanometers), 7 (750 nanometers), 6 (430 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 79,32° South
Center Longitude: 173,9° East
Resolution: 1715 meters/pixel
Scale: the approximate width of the image is 1840 KmMareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Volcanic_Regions-PIA10942-PCF-LXTT.jpgMercurian Volcano (Enhanced Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)200 visiteAs reported in the July 4th, 2008 issue of Science Magazine, Volcanoes have been discovered on Mercury’s Surface from images acquired during MESSENGER’s first Mercury Fly-By. This image shows the largest feature identified as a Volcano in the upper center of the scene. The Volcano has a central kidney-shaped depression, which is the Vent, and a broad smooth Dome surrounding the Vent. The Volcano is located just inside the Rim of the Caloris Impact Basin. The Rim of the Basin is marked with Hills and Mountains, as visible in this image. The role of Volcanism in Mercury’s history had been previously debated, but MESSENGER’s discovery of the first identified Volcanoes on Mercury’s Surface shows that Volcanism was active in the distant past on the innermost Planet.
Date Acquired: January 14, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET:108826877
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 270 meters/pixel (0,17 miles/pixel)
Scale: this image is about 270 Km across (approx. 170 miles)
Spacecraft Altitude: 10.500 Km (approx. 6500 miles)MareKromium
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ZW-Mercury-PIA12397.jpgMercury53 visiteToday (December, 15th, 2009), the first High-Resolution Global Map of Mercury was made publicly available. Members of the MESSENGER team and experts from the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) used images from MESSENGER's three Mercury flybys and from the Mariner 10 Mission in 1974-75 to create a Global Mosaic that covers 97,7% of Mercury's Surface at a resolution of 500 meters/pixel (0,31 miles/pixel).
The above image shows the full global Mercury mosaic but at a greatly reduced scale of only 5% of the HR version. The full HR mosaic by can be seen at the USGS Map-a-Planet website.
Date Mercury Fly-By 1: January 14, 2008
Date of Mercury Fly-By 2: October 6, 2008
Date of Mercury Fly-By 3: September 29, 2009
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Scale: Mercury's diameter is approx. 4880 Km (such as about 3030 miles)MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Full_Disk-PIA16853-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgMercury (Possible Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)87 visiteThis extremely detailed and, in fact, really impressive view of the Planet Mercury was produced by using images from the Color Base Map Imaging Campaign that was carried out during the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft's Primary Mission. Young Rays, extending radially from (relatively) fresh Impact Craters, appear of a light gray or whitish color; the dark-gray and almost black-colored Regions and Areas are those Geologic Units of Mercury's Crust which are known as the "Low-Reflectance Material" (such as a Material that, according to the opinion of many Planetary Scientists, is thought to be rich in a dark and opaque Mineral). The brown and orange Regions are Plains that were formed, most likely, by the passage of Highly Fluid Lavas. The giant Caloris Impact Basin is the large, and very well visible, circular yellow-orangish Surface Feature located just near the upper right of center of the image (such as at abour one 'o clock of Mercury's disk).
We, as IPF, believe that the different colors of Mercury, as visible in this picture (which is an Ortographic Projection of the Innermost Planet in the Solar System), also can tell us something important about the age of the various Mercurian Regions and Areas. For instance, the almost black (or completely black) Areas and Spots, should be the ones which were more exposed to (and therefore that should have suffered for the longest time) the relentless action of the Charged Particles forming the Solar Wind and the Cosmic Rays. This means, in terms of age of these Areas and Spots, that the Surface Materials forming them should be the oldest ones that can be found on the Planet.
On the other hand, the Regions and Areas whose colors become less and less dark (and therefore we are talking about colors going from brown and dark orange, to yellow and, finally, to light gray or white) should be the ones that were less exposed to the so-called Cosmic Weathering, and this means, still in terms of age, that the Surface Materials that form them, should be the youngest ones present, today, on Mercury.
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 0°
Center Longitude: 140,00° East
This image (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft false color image-mosaic published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 16853) has been additionally processed and then re-colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft and then looked outside, towards the Planet Mercury), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. Different colors, as well as different shades of the same color, mean, among other things, the existence of different Elements (Minerals) present on the Surface of Mercury, each having a different Albedo (---> Reflectivity) and Chemical Composition.MareKromium
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