Earlier this twelvemonth , NASA ’s MESSENGER mission continued to take photos of Mercury right up until it crashed into the major planet . This enhanced prototype of the commonly grey - looking satellite shows how colour does n’t quite capture the diversity of the planet ’s make up .
Here ’s what the yellow , blues , and hopeful spots and lines mean accord to theEuropean Space Agency :
The obscure regions expose low - reflectance material , peculiarly for light at crimson wavelengths . As a result , these region take on a bluer cast of characters .
The criss - crossing streaks across the magnetic disk of the satellite show up in shades of abstemious blue , grey and white . These regions take on a light blue hue for a different reason : their youth . As material is expose to the harsh space surroundings around Mercury it darken , but these pale ‘ beam of light ’ are formed from material excavate from beneath the planet ’s surface and direct flying during relatively recent impingement . For this reason , they have retained their youthful glow .
The yellowish , tan - coloured regions are “ intermediate terrain ” . Mercury also host brighter and still terrain make love as high - reflectance red plains . One lesson can be seen towards the upper rightfield , where there is a spectacular patch that is close to circular . This is the Caloris basin , an shock volcanic crater call up to have been created by an asteroid hit during the Solar System ’s early days .
Image course credit : NASA / JHU Applied Physics Lab / Carnegie Inst . Washington
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NASA
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