cosmicvastness:Messenger’s iridescent MercuryTo the human eye, Mercury may resemble a dull, grey orb
cosmicvastness:Messenger’s iridescent MercuryTo the human eye, Mercury may resemble a dull, grey orb but this enhanced-colour image from NASA’s Messenger probe, tells a completely different story. Swathes of iridescent blue, sandy-coloured plains and delicate strands of greyish white, create an ethereal and colourful view of our Solar System’s innermost planet.The criss-crossing streaks across the disc of the planet show up in shades of light blue, grey and white. These regions take on a light blue hue for a different reason: their youthfulness. As material is exposed to the harsh space environment around Mercury it darkens, but these pale ‘rays’ are formed from material excavated from beneath the planet’s surface and sent flying during comparatively recent impacts. For this reason, they have retained their youthful glow.Credit:NASA / JHU Applied Physics Lab / Carnegie Inst. Washington -- source link