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Mercury Flyby Reveals Bright Craters, Long Rays
from National Geographic News
A new look at the solar system's innermost planet is revealing bright young craters and an extensive pattern of rays, suggesting that Mercury undergoes weathering processes like those on the moon.
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft turned toward Earth in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and began transmitting images and data from its second planetary flyby.
A previous flyby in January was the first in a series of maneuvers designed to position MESSENGER in orbit around Mercury in 2011. That encounter imaged 20 percent of the planet's surface that had never been seen before. The latest images represent the first spacecraft views of the northern portion of Mercury, encompassing another 30 percent of the surface missed during previous missions.
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