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| Ultimi arrivi - Mercury |
ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Kertész_Crater-PIA16624-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgKertész Crater (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)82 visiteThe bright and white-colored Material so clearly visible all over the Floor of Kertész Crater (whose diameter is approx. 31 Km - such as a little more than 19 miles) is not - despite its color and physical appearence - the Water Ice that has been recently confirmed to be present deep inside many Impact Craters located near Mercury's Poles, but it might well be behaving as Ice would on another Planet.
As a matter of fact, Mercury's Daytime Temperatures are so hot at most Latitudes that several kinds of Rocks (---> Minerals) which would be quite stable at other places in the Solar System, may essentially evaporate on Mercury. That is just one (a new one, we believe) theory that could explain the formation of these bright, irregular Features known as "Hollows" and seen here and, as you should already know very well, in many other places on the Planet Mercury (however, these fascinating Surface Features must, somehow - and in our humble opinion, as IPF -, be related to Impact Mechanics since they can mostly - if not exclusively - be found either inside, or on the Rims and/or, often, in close proximities with Impact Craters).
Date acquired: November, 17th, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 261598284
Image ID: 2969138
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 27,38° North
Center Longitude: 145,5° East
Resolution: 46 meters/pixel
Solar Incidence Angle: 42,6° (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the pictures were taken, was about 47,4° above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 59,7°
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 91,4°
This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft b/w frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 16624) has been additionally processed 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 down, 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.MareKromiumDic 25, 2012
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ZZ-Mercury-Volcanic_Features-Vents-PIA16627-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgVolcanic Vents near Caloris' Outer Edge - Credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)85 visiteThis image highlights the velvety texture that surrounds several Volcanic Vents located near the Outer Rim of the huge Impact Basin known as "Caloris Basin", on Mercury. This (apparently) soft texture, like freshly fallen snow, is formed by the emplacement of tiny beads of Lava that were explosively erupted and then quenched and solidified just before they reached the Surface. This diffuse Deposit heavily blankets several Impact Craters and older Vents, while it becomes thinner as long as it goes farther away from the Source of the Eruption. A large amount of the typical Mercurian Surface Features known as "Hollows" is also very well visible on the Rims of a number of Unnamed (and relatively modest in size) Impact Craters. This whole scene is approx. 106 Km across.
Date acquired: November, 17th, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 261627279
Image ID: 2971208
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 22,03° North
Center Longitude: 146,4° East
Resolution: 54 meters/pixel
Solar Incidence Angle: 39,1° (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the pictures were taken, was about 50,9° above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 61,4°
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 90,9°
This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft b/w frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 16627) has been additionally processed 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 down, 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.MareKromiumDic 25, 2012
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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Basho_Crater-PIA16625-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgBasho Crater (Absolute Natural Colors; credts for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)147 visiteToday's APOD (obtained by the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft during the past month of November) provides us with the best look yet at Basho Crater (approximately 75 Km - such as about 47 miles - in diameter): a (relatively) young Impact Crater located in the Southern Hemisphere of the Planet Mercury. Basho Crater features some of the most striking Albedo (---> Reflectivity) contrasts that can be found on the whole Surface of the Innermost Planet of the Solar System, with both Low-Reflectance Ejecta and High-Reflectance Deposits (probably the most "famous", common and yet highly controversial - as far as its origin is concerned -Mercurian Surface Feature ever discovered: the so-called Hollows).
Date acquired: November, 6th, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 260649832
Image ID: 2901613
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 32,47° South
Center Longitude: 189,2° East
Resolution: 103 meters/pixel
Solar Incidence Angle: 32,4° (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the pictures were taken, was about 57,6° above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 4,9°
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 32,6°
This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft color frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 16625) 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 down, 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.MareKromiumDic 20, 2012
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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Raffaello_Crater-PIA16307-PCF-LXTT-IPF-1.jpgRaffaello Crater (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)94 visiteThis beautiful Absolute Natural Color image-mosaic of the huge Impact Basin Raffaello (named after the Italian Renaissance painter and having a diameter of approx. 343 Km), taken in the past month of October 2012 by the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft, shows us a wide diversity of colors (which, as you know, represent a wide variety of Mineral Compositions) that exist and can be easily identified within the Volcanic Plains that, eons ago, flooded the Raffaello Basin's Floor. Furthermore, many white-colored Hollows appear to be in process of being formed along most of the Rim and the Northern portion of the Floor - and, in both cases, they are forming in the so-called Low Reflectance Material (or LRM for short) - of a smaller - roughly 40-Kilometer (such as approx. 25-miles) diameter -, Unnamed and Highly Complex Impact Crater that is located just South of the center of the giant Raffaello Basin.
Date acquired: October, 19th, 2012
Images Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 259122560, 259122580, 259122564
Images ID: 2793045, 2793050, 2793046
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 20,39° South
Center Longitude: 283,6° East
Resolution: 599 meters/pixel
Solar Incidence Angle: 53,4° (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the pictures were taken, was about 36,6° above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 27,0°
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 80,3°
This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft color frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 16307) 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 down, 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.MareKromiumNov 25, 2012
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ZZ-Mercury-Volcanic_Regions-Plains-PIA16428-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgVolcanic Region (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)88 visiteMany Regions of Mercury's Surface show a relatively smooth and dark brown/reddish-colored Terrain (with almost black patches near and around the Rims of the major Impact Craters) that, in a way, appears to have "flooded" (---> quickly covered, either in whole or in part) low-lying Areas and, at the same time, which has also partially filled (and/or, here and there, almost completely buried) what seem to be the oldest Impact Craters existing on the Surface. Said that, we can reasonably speculate that these smooth Plains could have formed, in a very distant past of the Innermost Planet of the Solar System, as a consequence of the occurrence of some powerful Volcanic Activity which, in fact, ended up by - litterally - "drowning" these Regions with - and in - extremely voluminous amounts of, most likely, low-viscosity Basaltic Lavas.
Notice that the beautiful colors of the Mercurian Surface, as well as all the details of the Terrain seen here, all appear to be extremely clear, sharp and well visible, (also) thanks to to fact that the Sun, at the time that the picture was taken, was relatively high in the Sky (59,2° on the Local Horizon, to be exact).
Date acquired: July, 21st, 2012
Images Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 251402330, 251402350, and 251402334
Images ID: 2244264, 2244269, and 2244265
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 8,27° South
Center Longitude: 113,1° East
Scale: this scene is approx. 475 Km across
This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft color frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 16428) 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 down, 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.MareKromiumNov 24, 2012
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ZZ-Mercury-Limb-PIA16299-PCF-LXTT-IPF-1.jpgOn the Limb... (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color. Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)80 visiteEven though quite a few Impact Craters are visible in this Absolute Natural Color view of Mercury's Limb, the Crater Degas (whose diameter is approx. 55 Km) gets easily noticed. Located near the center of the image, the distinctive gray color of the Low-Reflectance (---> Albedo) Material associated with Degas Crater (Material that covers most of the Floor, the Inner and Outer Rim, as well as a little bit of the Surface located in close proximity with the Crater itself) makes a clear contrast with the surrounding Terrain and neighboring Craters.
This image was acquired as a Targeted Observation that occurred simultaneously with a measurement carried out by the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS). Targeted Observations that involve both MDIS and MASCS, once the data from both instruments are combined, facilitate a better understanding of the color and reflectance of small-scale Geologic Features which are present on the Surface of Mercury.
Date acquired: October, 6th, 2012
Images Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 258052701, 258052721, 258052705
Images ID: 2717216, 2717221, 2717217
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 35,98° North
Center Longitude: 231,2° East
Center Resolution: 533 meters/pixel
This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft color frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 16299) 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 down, 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.MareKromiumNov 18, 2012
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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Geddes_Crater-PIA16302-PCF-LXTT-IPF-2.jpgCollapse Pit inside Geddes Crater (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)88 visiteGeddes Crater (so named, in March 2010, in honor of Wilhelmina Geddes (1887 - 1955), an Irish stained glass and graphic artist) is well known to be a Mercurian extremely geologically interesting Impact Feature. As you know, the Ridge of Antoniadi Dorsum bisects the Crater, and in the center of the Crater's Floor there is a large Depression with a distinctive orangish hue: a color similar to the one seen in other areas (still on Mercury and elsewhere in the Solar System, such as, for instance, on our Moon) which are (better yet: were) associated with Explosive Volcanism or other phenomena of (perhaps Sulphurous-rich) Outgassing. This recently acquired image reveals new, High-Resolution detail of such a potentially Volcanic Depression (---> a Volcanic - in origin - Collapse Pit, to be more specific, which might have formed as a consequenc of the progressive withdrawal of Subsurface Magma), including the presence of many Hollows (a Surface Feature that, as we know now, is extremely common and that can be found all over the Surface of Mercury and which do not seem to be only related, in our opinion, as IPF, to the verification of Impact Events).
Date acquired: October, 11th, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 258458455
Image ID: 2745982
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 27,15° North
Center Longitude: 330,4° East
Resolution: 28 meters/pixel
Solar Incidence Angle: 74,1° (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the picture was taken, was about 15,9° above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 33,2°
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 107,3°
This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft b/w frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 16302) has been additionally processed 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 down, 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.MareKromiumNov 18, 2012
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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Stieglitz_Crater-Central_Peak-PIA16420-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgLong Shadows from the Complex Central Peak of Stieglitz Crater (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)105 visiteThis really beautiful and dramatic image taken by the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft shows us the Central Peak of the Stieglitz Impact Crater, which is located high on Mercury's Northern Hemisphere. The fresh appearance of its Ejecta Deposit suggests that Stieglitz is a relatively young Crater. Intriguingly, Stieglitz also hosts some significant amounts of Radar-Bright Materials whose origin and composition is, so far, unknown.
Date acquired: August, 27th, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 254597521
Image ID: 2471477
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 72,71° North
Center Longitude: 67,90° East
Resolution: 17 meters/pixel
Solar Incidence Angle: 83,4° (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the picture was taken, was about 6,6° above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 47,6°
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 130,9°
This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft b/w frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 16420) has been additionally processed 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 down, 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.MareKromiumNov 03, 2012
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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Unnamed_Crater-PIA16392-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgUnnamed Mercurian Crater (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the research and the additional process.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)112 visiteThis dramatic image, where North is to the right, shows a Simple Impact Crater some 11 Km in diameter, located within the 290-Km-diameter Mendelssohn Basin. Its sharp Rim indicates that this Crater is a comparatively young Feature, though some parts of the Crater Walls have slumped (---> slowly fallen down) onto the Floor. The High Resolution of this image allows us to see quite a few distinctive textures along the Crater Walls.
Date acquired: July 21, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 251400686
Image ID: 2244179
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 70,28° North
Center Longitude: 105,38° East
Resolution: 19 meters/pixel
Scale: the field of view in this image is approx. 9,7 Km (such as about 2,3 miles) across
Solar Incidence Angle: 76,9° (menaing that the Sun was about 13,1° above the imaged Local Horizon at the time that the picture was taken)
Emission Angle: 11,0°
Sun-Mercury-MESSENGER (or "Phase") Angle: 87,9°MareKromiumOtt 28, 2012
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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Rachmaninoff_Crater-PIA16399-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgFeatures of Rachmaninoff Cratrer (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)74 visiteRachmaninoff is a spectacular Double-Ring Impact Basin on Mercury, and this Absolute Natural Color view of it, is one of the highest resolution color image sets acquired of the Basin's Floor. Visible around the edges of the frame is a circle of Mountains that make up Rachmaninoff's Peak-Ring Structure, which surrounds concentric Troughs located on the on the Basin Floor. The color of the Basin's Floor inside the Peak-Ring differs from the darker material outside of it, as can also be seen in other images of this Feature.
Date acquired: July 31, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 252265403, 252265399, 252265395
Image ID: 2305612, 2305611, 2305610
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filters: 9, 7, 6 (996, 748, 433 nanometers) in red, green, and blue
Center Latitude: 27,64° North
Center Longitude: 57,58° East
Resolution: 149 meters/pixel
Scale: Rachmaninoff's Inner Ring is approximately 140 Km (about 87 miles) in diameter
Solar Incidence Angle: 39,7° (meaning that the Sun was about 50,3° above the imaged Local Horizon at the time that the picture was taken)
Emission Angle: 19,2°
Sun-Mercury-MESSENGER (or "Phase") Angle: 59,0°MareKromiumOtt 28, 2012
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ZZ-Mercury-Limb-PIA16429-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgMercurian Horizon (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)83 visiteImages of Mercury's Limb provide information about the shape and topography of Mercury, but they also provide a sense of what it would be like to fly over the Innermost Planet, and to look out of the Spacecraft's window and toward the distant Horizon. See anywhere good to land?
Date acquired: July 24, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 251598850
Image ID: 2258481
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 18,25° South
Center Longitude: 353,70° East
Scale: the bottom of this scene is approximately 150 Km (about 93 miles) across, from left to right
Solar Incidence Angle: 58,6° (meaning that the Sun was about 31,4° above the imaged Local Horizon at the time the picture was taken)
Emission Angle: 80,0°
Sun-Mercury-MESSENGER (or "Phase") Angle: 138,6°MareKromiumOtt 28, 2012
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ZZ-Mercury-Limb-PIA16398-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgMercurian Horizon (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)80 visiteIn this image, Mercury's Cratered Surface stretches to the Horizon. Limb images with the Wide Angle Camera (WAC) have been a part of MDIS imaging campaigns since the beginning of orbital operations. A few months ago, in June 2012, NAC images of Mercury's Limb were added to the regular weekly observations, resulting in a few images each week with dramatic views of Mercury's Horizon such as seen here.
This image was acquired as part of MDIS's limb imaging campaign. Once per week, MDIS captures images of Mercury's Limb, with an emphasis on imaging the Limb of the Southern Hemisphere. These Limb images provide information about Mercury's shape and complement measurements of topography made by the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) of Mercury's Northern Hemisphere.
Date acquired: July 17, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 250986760
Image ID: 2215464
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 30,3° South
Center Longitude: 59,4° East
Scale: the bottom of the image is approximately 300 Km (about 190 miles) in lengthMareKromiumOtt 28, 2012
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