Explanation:
The robotic
MESSENGER spacecraft
recently completed over
100 orbits of
Mercury.
Messenger's cameras have recorded
detailed pictures utilizing eight different colors across
visible and near
infrared light, exploring the surface
composition and looking for clues to the history and evolution
of the solar system's innermost planet.
This sharp
image combines three of the MESSENGER wide angle camera's colors,
but in exaggerated fashion.
Otherwise, to the unaided human eye, Mercury's surface colors would appear
comparatively muted.
The image is about 1,000 kilometers across and
features as small as a single kilometer are discernible at the original
resolution.
Today, the Messenger project
will release new images and science findings from the
first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.
