Image source with more informationCredit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied
Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Both times that Mariner 10 passed by Mercury, the same half of the planet was shrouded in darkness. This, the first image from the recent MESSENGER flyby, shows us what the other half looks like.
More pictures, including colour images, are in the pipeline.
4 comments:
Beautiful, though -let's face it- not dramatically surprising...
Oooh. Finally - I've been itching to see Mercury since I read the satellite would be there. I can't believe most of the world doesn't know about it... Then I watched the movie Sunshine shich had the sun and Mercury in it...and then I wanted to see it even more. (the movie is great BTW if you haven't seen it)
Beautiful. I must see *more*...thanks for the links.
it is so cool...i mean-- hot
@Gnome: Certainly, but I think the colour mosaics, when they're finished, may be rather interesting to look at...
@Geo: I dunno, a film about restarting the sun with a nuclear bomb kind of demonstrates a fundamental failure to grasp the scale of things, if you ask me.
@Mark: Well, a chilly night might reach a shivering 170 degrees C, so I wouldn't quite leave your winter coat at home.
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