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| Piú viste - Mercury |
ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Qi_Baishi_et_al_-PIA14398-PCF-LXTT.jpgTolstoj Basin (Enhanced Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)266 visiteThe various named features present in this color image, Qi Baishi, Hovnatanian, Kalidasa and Tolstoj, create a stunning depiction of Mercury's scarred and variable Surface. Tolstoj, the large basin in the bottom right of the image, represents the war and peace of its namesake's famous novel through its smooth, light-colored center and rough, dark blue exterior.
This image was acquired as part of MDIS's color base map. The color base map is composed of WAC images taken through eight different narrow-band color filters and will cover more than 90% of Mercury's Surface with an average resolution of 1 Km/pixel (0,6 miles/pixel). The highest-quality color images are obtained for Mercury's Surface when both the spacecraft and the Sun are overhead, so these images typically are taken with viewing conditions of low incidence and emission angles.
Date acquired: June, 27th, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 217689462, 217689478, 217689458
Image ID: 433721, 433725, 433720
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 9 (1000 nanometers), 7 (750 nanometers), 6 (430 nanometers) as red-green-blue
Center Latitude: 11,69° South
Center Longitude: 178,1° East
Resolution: 1387 meters/pixel
Scale: the Inner Ring of Tolstoj is roughly 365 Km
Incidence Angle: 13,4°
Emission Angle: 14,6°
Phase Angle: 28,0°MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Pond-PIA15203-PCF-LXTT.jpgMercurian "Pond" (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)236 visiteThis image shows a small Pond of impact melt that was ejected from a Crater just out of view. The melt ponded in this low, forming a smooth surface similar to the Melt Ponds south of Kuiper Crater. North is toward the upper right corner.
This image was acquired as a High-Resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's Surface at resolutions much higher than the 250-meter/pixel (820 feet/pixel) morphology base map or the 1-Km/pixel (0,6 miles/pixel) color base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's Surface at this high resolution during MESSENGER's one-year mission, but several areas of high scientific interest are generally imaged in this mode each week.
Date acquired: November 06, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 229105038
Image ID: 980525
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 63,9° North
Center Longitude: 256,5° East
Resolution: 16 meters/pixel
Scale: the smooth region is approximately 3 Km (about 1,9 miles) across
Solar Incidence Angle: 69,5° (meaning that the Sun is about 20,5° above the Local Horizon)
Emission Angle: 15,6°
Sun-Mercury-MESSENGER (such as "Phase") Angle: 85,2°MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Natural_Satellite-Caduceus-PIA15542.jpgNOT ALONE!236 visiteCaption NASA:"This discovery image provides the first evidence that Mercury has a small natural satellite or moon. Visible as a small bright spot in an image taken yesterday by the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Wide Angle Camera (WAC), the moon is approximately 70 meters (230 feet) in diameter and orbits Mercury at a mean distance of 14.300 Km (such as 8890 miles). A proposal to name the moon "Caduceus", after the staff carried by the Roman god Mercury, has been submitted by the MESSENGER team to the International Astronomical Union, the body responsible for assigning names to celestial objects.
This discovery presents an unprecedented opportunity for a return of samples from the Mercury System, as Project Scientist Nat MacRulf explains. "We have yet to identify a sample from Mercury in any of the meteorite collections we have here on Earth. Such a sample would give us critical insight into the chemical composition of Mercury and the timing of crustal formation on that body, leading to a better understanding of how the planet formed and evolved. If we could obtain a sample of Caduceus, it would enhance the scientific return of the MESSENGER mission beyond our wildest dreams!"
Work on designing a scenario for sample return is already underway. MESSENGER Project Manager Burt Panini held an emergency meeting with the MESSENGER mission operations and navigation teams yesterday evening to determine if the spacecraft could be targeted toward the diminutive moon. After an intensive discussion, a unanimous decision was taken to abandon the orbit-correction maneuvers that had been planned for later this month to place the spacecraft in an eight-hour orbit. Instead, the new plan is to use the remaining propellant to crash MESSENGER into Caduceus. "Our detailed analysis tells us that if we act now, and with the right trajectory, MESSENGER will impart just enough momentum to the moon to break it free of Mercury's Gravity well and set it on an Earth-crossing trajectory suitable for recovery as a Mercury meteorite", said Panini.
This action will form the basis of a new request to NASA by the MESSENGER team for an extended extended mission, tentatively called "MESSENGER Infinitesimally Nudging Caduceus", or MIN-C for short. Once MIN-C is approved by NASA, the Spacecraft will be targeted for a collision trajectory. If Caduceus is successfully released from the pull of Mercury and placed on a course to reach Earth, we can expect the moon to arrive at Earth by 2014. "The risk to the public is reassuringly small", offers MESSENGER mission design lead Adam McJames. "We have designed a trajectory that will bring the moon to Earth at a remote location on the Wilkes Land ice sheet in Antarctica. This trajectory will avoid all population centers and will put the moon's impact site within reach for retrieval by the scientific staff at the U.S.-operated McMurdo Station".
If successful, MESSENGER's extended extended MIN-C mission will mark the first instance of the documented arrival to Earth of material from the Mercury system. Moreover, it will serve as the basis for a new Discovery-class mission proposal currently in development by the Applied Psychics Laboratory for a Mercury lander mission for in situ X-ray analysis of surface composition. That mission is to be named the Hermean On-surface Analysis with X-rays.
Date acquired: March 31, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 131766564
Image ID: 6418
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 38,15° North
Center Longitude: 66,18° East
Resolution: 410 meters/pixel (0,25 miles/pixel) in the lower left corner of the image
Scale: the large crater in the center of the image (Copland) is about 210 Km (such as approx. 130 miles) in diameter.
Spacecraft Altitude: 16.200 Km (10.070 miles)
Incidence Angle: 69,1°
Emission Angle: 80,8°
Phase Angle: 138,2°MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Unnamed_Crater_with_Hollows-PIA15069-PCF-LXTT.jpgUnnamed Crater with "Hollows" in Caloris Basin (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)234 visiteThis stunning, and as of yet Unnamed, Crater lies within the Caloris Basin. Its fFoor provides another example of the beautiful "Hollows" found on Mercury and has an etched appearance similar to that found in the Crater Tyagaraja. This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's Surface at resolutions much higher than the 250-meter/pixel (820 feet/pixel) morphology base map or the 1-kilometer/pixel (0,6 miles/pixel) color base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's Surface at this high resolution during MESSENGER's one-year mission, but several areas of high scientific interest are generally imaged in this mode each week.
Date acquired: October, 28th, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 228326267
Image ID: 943690
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 38,44° North
Center Longitude: 175,6° East
Resolution: 42 meters/pixel
Scale: this Unnamed Crater is approximately 38 Km (about 24 miles) across
Solar Incidence Angle: 76,1° (meaning that the Sun, at the time the picture was taken, was about 13,9° above the Local Horizon)
Emission Angle: 40,0°
Sun-Mercury-MESSENGER (or "Phase") Angle: 116,1°MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Raditladi_Impact_Basin-PIA14856-PCF-LXTT.jpgFeatures of Raditladi Impact Basin (Enhanced Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)232 visiteCaption NASA:"View of a section of the Floor and Peak-Ring Mountains of the Raditladi Impact Basin. The individual frames in the mosaic are about 20 km wide. The rounded, depressions, called "Hollows" are a fascinating discovery of MESSENGER's orbital mission and may have been formed by Sublimation of a component of the material when exposed by the Raditladi Impact Event.
Date Presented: September 29, 2011, at a NASA press briefing
Instrument: Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)MareKromium
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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)211 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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ZZ-Mercury-Crater_Chain-PIA15156-PCF-LXTT.jpgSecondary Crater Chains (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)211 visiteThis image, taken with the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), shows a pair of Secondary Crater Chains. These features are formed when Ejecta from a Primary iImpact is thrown outward from the growing crater cavity. As chunks of Ejecta fall back to the Surface, they can form Chains of Secondary Craters that often overlap.
This image was acquired as part of MDIS's High-Resolution Surface Morphology Base Map. The surface morphology base map will cover more than 90% of Mercury's Surface with an average resolution of approx. 250 meters/pixel (0,16 miles/pixel or 820 feet/pixel).
Images acquired for the Surface Morphology Base Map typically have off-vertical Sun angles (such as High Solar Incidence Angles, meaning low Sun over the Local Horizon ) and visible shadows so as to reveal clearly the topographic form of geologic features.
Date acquired: October 28, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 228324766
Image ID: 943677
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 2,94° North
Center Longitude: 160,5° East
Resolution: 193 meters/pixel
Scale: this frame is about 100 Km (approx. 62 miles) across
Solar Incidence Angle: 87,3° (meaning that the Sun is about 2,7° above the Local Horizon)
Emission Angle: 17,3°
Sun-Mercury-MESSENGER (or "Phase") Angle: 104,7°MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Global_View_of_the_Surface-PIA14399-PCF-LXTT.jpgLow Reflectance Material and Crater Rays (Enhanced Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)203 visiteThis image highlights some of the color features present on Mercury's Surface, such as Low Reflectance Material (LRM) and Crater Rays. Visible in the top left quadrant of this image is the named crater Moody, which has a prominent yellow-orange color on its Floor in this enhanced color image.
This image was acquired as part of MDIS's color base map. The color base map is composed of WAC images taken through eight different narrow-band color filters and will cover more than 90% of Mercury's Surface with an average resolution of 1 Km/pixel (0,6 miles/pixel). The highest-quality color images are obtained for Mercury's surface when both the Spacecraft and the Sun are overhead, so these images typically are taken with viewing conditions of low incidence and emission angles.
Date acquired: July, 3rd, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 218154838, 218154854, 218154834
Image ID: 456233, 456237, 456232
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 9 (1000 nanometers), 7 (750 nanometers), 6 (430 nanometers) as red-green-blue
Center Latitude: 30,86° South
Center Longitude: 149,5° East
Resolution: 1712 meters/pixel
Scale: Moody crater is approx. 83 Km (~51,5 mi.) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 32,6°
Emission Angle: 0,5°
Phase Angle: 32,8°MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Global_View_of_the_Surface-PIA14081-PCF-LXTT.jpgNorth Polar Highly Cratered Terrain (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)202 visiteDate Acquired: March 29, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 209895911
Image ID: 65416
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filer: 7 (748 nanometers wavelength)
Center Latitude: 81,2° North
Center Longitude: 72,3° East
Resolution: 166 mt/pixel (0,10 miles/pixel)
Scale: the bottom of this image is about 84 Km (approx. 52 miles) acrossMareKromium
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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)202 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-Volcanic_feature-Collapse_Pit-PIA13468-PCF-LXTT.jpgCollapse Pit-Chain inside Picasso Crater (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)201 visiteThe Crater pictured in the center of this image was recently named Picasso, in honor of the Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). This Crater, first imaged during MESSENGER's third Mercury Fly-By, has drawn scientific attention because of the large, arc-shaped Pit-Chain located on the Eastern side of its Floor. Similar Pits have been discovered on the Floors of several other Mercurian Craters, such as Beckett and Gibran. These Pits are postulated to have formed when subsurface magma subsided or drained, causing the surface to collapse into the resulting void. If this interpretation is correct, Pit-Floor Craters - such as Picasso - provide evidence of shallow magmatic activity in Mercury's history.
Date Acquired: September 29, 2009
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 500 meters/pixel (0,31 miles/pixel)
Scale: the diameter of Picasso is roughly 133 Km (about 83 miles)
Projection: This image is a portion of the NAC approach mosaic from Mercury Fly-By n. 3. It is shown in a simple cylindrical map projection.MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Unnamed_Crater_with_Rays-PIA14085-PCF-LXTT.jpgRelatively "Fresh" Impact Crater (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)200 visiteDate Acquired: March 29, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 209894125
Image ID: 65182
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 11.8° North
Center Longitude: 13,9° East
Resolution: 160 mt/pixel
Scale: the bright Unnamed Crater is about 6,4 Km in diameter.MareKromium
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