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Inizio > SOLAR SYSTEM > Mercury

Piú viste - Mercury

ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Tyagaraja_Crater-PIA17051-PCF-LXTT-IPF-2.jpgTyagaraja Crater (EDM - Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)89 visiteThis colorful picture of Tyagaraja Crater (which is about 97 Km - such as approx. 60,23 miles - in diameter) and its surroundings shows us many different types of Material that exist on the Surface of Mercury. For instance, the very bright, white areas visible on the Floor of the Crater (in particular to the North/East, at about 3 o'clock) are the very "famous" (and common, on Mercury) Hollows; as a matter of fact, they are so much brighter than the surrounding Areas that they appear slightly over-saturated in this particular image.
The yellow/red/orangish spots located near the center of the Crater are, most likely, Volcanic Materials which surround a Pyroclastic Vent. Last, but not least, the very Dark Material (almost black) that is visible all around Tyagaraja Crater (and, particularly, towards the South/Western Regions surrounding Tyagaraja - such as the areas located in the lower left (Sx) side of the frame) is Low Reflectance Material (LRM).

Just out of curiosity, if you look carefully at the outline of Tyagaraja Crater, you may notice that its shape is quite unusual for a Primary Impact Crater: in fact, its shape it is not a "circle", but rather an (almost regular, on its Western side) "hexagon". Also, the Inner Slopes of the Crater show clear evidence of multiple Layers (and such a circumstance, at least for the time being, is really hard, for Planetary Scientists, to fully understand and explain).

Date acquired: April 25th, 2013
Images Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 9232956, 9232948, 9232944
Images ID: 3950118, 3950116, 3950115
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 3,94� North
Center Longitude: 211,20� East
Resolution: 22 meters/pixel
Solar Incidence Angle: 13,4� (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the picture was taken, was about 76,6� above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 18,0�
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 31,5�

This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft Map Projected false color image-mosaic published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 17051) has been additionally processed, cropped, contrast enhanced, magnified 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.MareKromium

ZP-Mercury-PIA10396.jpgMercury's "Sodium Tail"88 visiteCaption NASA:"This plot shows the intensity of emission of light associated with Sodium (Na) Atoms in the vicinity of Mercury. The observations were made with the Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer (UVVS) section of the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS). The intensity (up to 40 kiloRayleighs) indicates the relative abundance of material - in this case Sodium Atoms - along the observational line of sight back to the Spacecraft.
While Sodium from Mercury has been observed with Earth-based telescopes, this is the highest-spatial-resolution image ever made.
The geometry and observing circumstances have to be disentangled to infer the true spatial distribution, but the observations do confirm a North-South asymmetry that has previously been observed in ground-based Sodium images.

The Sodium emission is at 589 nm (in the visible part of the spectrum and the same wavelength, or color, as in sodium lamps and street lights on Earth). Because Sodium Atoms have intense emission, they are easy to detect, and this makes sodium a good tracer for other volatile elements in Mercury's Exosphere".MareKromium

ZZ-Mercury-Limb-CN0131766454M.pngSigns of Aging... (natural colors; credits: Lunexit)88 visiteDate Acquired: October 6, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 131766454
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 420 meters/pixel (0,26 miles/pixel) on the right side of the image
Scale: The small crater superimposed on the long cliff is about 30 Km (approx. 19 miles) in diameter
Spacecraft Altitude: about 16.500 kilometers (approx. 10.300 miles)

Of Interest: This dramatic NAC image was acquired about 56 minutes prior to MESSENGER�s closest approach during the mission�s recent Mercury flyby, as the spacecraft approached the Planet's illuminated crescent. Prominent toward the horizon in this view of newly imaged terrain is a long cliff face. A small impact crater (about 30 Km, or approx. 19 miles, in diameter) overlies this lengthy scarp. The scarp extends for over 400 Km (about 250 miles) and likely represents a sign of aging unique to Mercury among the planets in the Solar System.
As time passes, the interior of a planet cools. However, the relative size of Mercury's central metallic core is larger than that of the other planets and hence has significantly affected the planet�s geologic evolution. The numerous long scarps on Mercury are believed to be the surface expression of faults formed in the rocks of Mercury's crust as the interior of the planet cooled and contracted. This contraction compressed the surface and thrust some sections of crust over others, creating long curving cliffs like the one shown here.MareKromium

ZT-Mercury-WAC_1x1_color.pngThe "True Colors" of Mercury?88 visite...Ed alla fine, anche la NASA (almeno per quanto riguarda la Missione MESSENGER) si � "arresa" alla Logica Generale dei Colori adottata - tempo fa - da Lunexit.
Citiamo (come da nostro Sondaggio) "I colori di un Mondo dipendono (o, se volete, stanno) dagli (negli) occhi di chi lo guarda".

Una considerazione che potr� anche sembrarVi stupida e scontata ma che, va detto per Onest� Intellettuale, � stata oggettivata e fatta propria da Lunar Explorer Italia da tempo ed attraverso l'articolo "True Colors", che potete trovare nell'archivio del nostro blog TrePlanets.

A nostro avviso, questa considerazione NASA (che riprende Lunexit) deve farci ancora una volta sentire fieri del Lavoro che svolgiamo e dei risultati che otteniamo.

Anche se, a parte Voi Lettori e noi STAFF, non sembra essersene accorto nessun altro (specie in Italia)...

Caption NASA:

Date Acquired: October 6, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 131775256, 131775260, 131775264, 131775268
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 5 Km/pixel (about 3 miles/pixel)
Scale: Mercury�s diameter is roughly 4880 Km (approx. 3030 miles)
Spacecraft Altitude: about 27.000 Km (approx. 17.000 miles)

Of Interest: Given the WAC�s ability to take images through 11 narrow-band color filters, it is natural to wonder what does Mercury look like in �true� color such as would be seen by the human eye. However, creating such a natural color view is not as simple as it may seem. Shown here are four images of Mercury. The image in the top left is the previously released grayscale monochrome single WAC filter (430-nanometer) image; the remaining three images are three-color composites, produced by placing the same three WAC filter images with peak sensitivities at 480, 560, and 630 nanometers in the blue, green, and red channels, respectively. The differences between the color representations result from how the brightness and contrast of each individual WAC filter image was adjusted before it was combined into a color picture. In the top right view, all of the three filter images were stretched using the same brightness and contrast settings. In the bottom left picture, the brightness and contrast of each of the three filter images were determined independent of the others. In the bottom right, the brightness and contrast settings used in the upper right version were slightly adjusted to make each of the three filter images span a similar range of brightness and contrast values.

So which color representation is �correct� for Mercury? The answer to that would indeed DEPEND ON THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER. Every individual sees color differently; the human eye has a range of sensitivities that vary from person to person, resulting in different perceptions of �true� color. In addition, the three MDIS filter bands are narrow, and light at wavelengths between their peaks is not detected, unlike the human eye. In general, in light visible to the human eye, Mercury�s surface shows only very subtle color variations, as seen in the three images here. However, when images from all 11 WAC filters are statistically compared and contrasted, these subtle color variations can be greatly enhanced, resulting in extremely colorful representations of Mercury�s surface.MareKromium

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.3 commentiMareKromium

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.MareKromium

ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Prokofiev_Crater-PIA16857-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgIn the Everlasting Night of Prokofiev Crater (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)88 visiteProkofiev Crater, so officially named in August 2012 after the Russian composer, is the largest Impact Crater (with a diameter of approx. 112 Km - such as about 69,5 miles) located in Mercury's North Polar Region which hosts Radar-Bright Surface Material. Furthermore, the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft has also found evidence that within the cold, dark, and permanently shadowed Inner Regions of Prokofiev, Water Ice is exposed on the Mercurian Surface, just like it seems to happen on the Floors of extremely deep and steep Impact Craters and Canyons located near and at the Poles of our own Moon.

Date acquired: January, 17th, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 266090610
Image ID: 3288616
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 84,90� North
Center Longitude: 68,75� East
Resolution: 70 meters/pixel
Solar Incidence Angle: 84,9� (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the pictures were taken, was about 5,1� above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 6,1�
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 78,8�

This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft b/w frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 16857) 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.
MareKromium

Mercury - Boccaccio Crater from Mariner 10.jpgBoccaccio Crater - Mariner 1087 visite...ed una possibile causa di tali eventi potrebbe essere rinvenuta nell'esistenza di un corpo (relativamente) non troppo lontano dal Sole; 3) nel Settembre del 1995, infine, si registr� un fenomeno davvero eccezionale: una congiunzione Venere-Mercurio (visibile anche dall'Italia, al tramonto) la quale, completamente ignorata dai media, divent� ancor pi� straordinaria allorch� si stabil� che il corpo celeste che si trovava accanto a Venere NON era Mercurio.
C'� da pensare, vero?!?
Ma torniamo ai "fatti": il "volto" di Mercurio ricorda molto da vicino quello della nostra Luna (in ragione dell'elevata craterizzazione) ed anche le dimensioni dei due astri sono, relativamente, simili (4800 Km di diametro per Mercurio contro i 3500 Km della Luna). La temperatura superficiale di Mercurio varia drammaticamente, passando dai circa -180/190�C della sua notte (che possono arrivare anche a -210�C ai Poli), ai 400/410�C registrabili durante il giorno.

Mercury - Tir Planitia from Mariner 10.jpgTir Planitia - Mariner 1087 visiteIn realt�, perch� questo sia possibile, ci sono (al momento...) solo 2 possibili spiegazioni. La prima: il nucleo di Mercurio � ancora liquido (almeno in parte) ed attivo. Si tratterebbe di un fatto davvero sensazionale, considerate l'et�, le dimensioni e la posizione di Mercurio nel Sistema Solare.
La seconda: il nucleo di Mercurio si � effettivamente, come logica suggerirebbe, solidificato ed il campo magnetico che riscontriamo oggi � solo un gelido residuo ("frozen-in remnant", come dicono alla NASA) del campo magnetico primordiale del Pianeta. Un Campo Magnetico "fantasma", se preferite.

ZZ-Mercury-Limb-208882.jpgMercury's Horizon (HR)87 visiteJust 9 minutes after MESSENGER passed 200 Km (about 124 miles) above the surface of Mercury � its closest distance to the Planet during the January 14, 2008, flyby � the probe�s Wide Angle Camera (WAC) on the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) snapped this image.
The WAC is equipped with 11 different narrow-band filters, and this image was taken in filter 7, which is sensitive to light near the red end of the visible spectrum (750 nm). This view, also imaged through the remaining 10 WAC filters, is from the first set of images taken following MESSENGER's closest approach with Mercury.

The image shows Mercury's surface as seen from a low viewing angle, looking over the surface and off the limb of the Planet on the right side of the image.
The cratered terrain in the image is on the side of Mercury unseen by spacecraft prior to this MESSENGER flyby.
This scene was imaged at multiple viewing angles as MESSENGER sped away from Mercury, and these multiple views of the same surface features from different perspectives and in different colors will be used to help understand the properties of Mercury's surface.MareKromium

ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Crater_Field.jpgChangings...87 visiteDate Acquired: October 6, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 131774145
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 550 meters/pixel (0,34 miles/pixel)
Scale: Asvaghosa crater is approx. 90 Km in diameter (about 56 miles)
Spacecraft Altitude: about 21.000 Km (approx. 13.000 miles)

Of Interest: This pair of images illustrates the dramatic effect that illumination and viewing geometry (i.e., the angle at which Sunlight strikes the surface, and the angle from which the spacecraft views the surface) has on the appearance of terrain on Mercury. The image on the right is a frame captured by MESSENGER�s NAC as the spacecraft was departing the planet after its second Mercury flyby. On the left is a portion of a mosaic made from Mariner 10 clear-filter images, obtained by that mission in 1974. The yellow arrows point to the 90-Km- (56-mile-) diameter crater Asvaghosa (named for the first century AD Indian philosopher and poet), and the purple arrows indicate a smaller crater to the southwest. A bright ray, prominently visible in the high-Sun MESSENGER frame, crosses both craters. The stripe of high-reflectance material may have originated at Kuiper crater (to the southwest) or may come from a newly imaged crater to the northeast that has an extensive ray system. This ray and others seen in the NAC image were mostly invisible to Mariner 10, because low-Sun illumination emphasizes topography instead of differences in reflectance. As another example, the curving scarp (cliff) named Santa Maria Rupes (white arrows in the left image) is visible in the Mariner 10 image by the shadow it casts, but this rupes disappears in the MESSENGER image when the Sun is high overhead. Images collected under both high- and low-Sun conditions are needed for geologists to develop a complete understanding of the features on a planetary surface.MareKromium

ZZ-Mercury-Terminator-PIA14357.jpgMercurian Terminator (credits for the additional process. and color.: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)87 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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