NASA this afternoon released the first-ever photo of Mercury taken from a spacecraft in orbit around the innermost planet of the solar system.
The most arresting element of the photo is the rayed crater Debussy, which lends to the overall image the impression of the vine end of a cantaloupe after the vine has been snapped off. Straight out to the left of Debussy and much smaller, about halfway to the left border, lies the crater Matabei "with its unusual dark rays," NASA says.
The space agency has seen Debussy and Matabei before. What it hasn't ever seen until now is a region of Mercury that lies in the darker bottom half of the image, in the direction of the planet's south pole. Read More & Check Out the Photo
The most arresting element of the photo is the rayed crater Debussy, which lends to the overall image the impression of the vine end of a cantaloupe after the vine has been snapped off. Straight out to the left of Debussy and much smaller, about halfway to the left border, lies the crater Matabei "with its unusual dark rays," NASA says.
The space agency has seen Debussy and Matabei before. What it hasn't ever seen until now is a region of Mercury that lies in the darker bottom half of the image, in the direction of the planet's south pole. Read More & Check Out the Photo
