File:A taste of Mercury geology – annotated ESA23492940.png
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DescriptionA taste of Mercury geology – annotated ESA23492940.png |
English: The joint European-Japanese BepiColombo mission captured this view of Mercury on 1 October 2021 as the spacecraft flew past the planet for a gravity assist manoeuvre. This image was taken at 23:44:57 UTC by the Mercury Transfer Module’s Monitoring Camera 3, when the spacecraft was 2687 km from Mercury. Closest approach of 199 km took place shortly before, at 23:34:41 UTC. The cameras provide black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. The high-gain antenna of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and part of the body of the spacecraft are visible in front of Mercury. Visible in the image is a portion of the southern hemisphere of Mercury. Extensive lava plains cover the surface. The largest clearly visible crater, albeit partly obscured by part of the spacecraft, is the 251 km diameter Haydn crater, named after the Austrian composer (1732-1809). The smoothness of its floor indicates that it has been partly flooded by lavas. Where the sunrise is hitting the surface close to the night side of the planet, the topography of the terrain is enhanced. One example where this is apparent is a feature called Astrolabe Rupes, below right of Haydn crater. This sunlit ‘lobate scarp’ is one of many thrust faults resulting from Mercury’s slow global contraction caused by interior cooling. Some of the bright spots seen on the planet’s surface are ‘faculae’, many of which are believed to be material flung out by volcanic explosions. These represent one of the many surprises revealed by NASA’s MESSENGER mission that orbited Mercury 2011-2015, and will be studied in more detail when BepiColombo achieves orbit about the planet. Click here for a non-annotated version. The image has been lightly processed to enhance contrast and use the full dynamic range. The gravity assist manoeuvre was the first at Mercury and the fourth of nine flybys overall. During its seven-year cruise to the smallest and innermost planet of the Solar System, BepiColombo makes one flyby at Earth, two at Venus and six at Mercury to help steer on course for Mercury orbit in 2025. The Mercury Transfer Module carries two science orbiters: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter. They will operate from complementary orbits to study all aspects of mysterious Mercury from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and exosphere, to better understand the origin and evolution of a planet close to its parent star. |
Date | 2 October 2021 (upload date) |
Source | A taste of Mercury geology – annotated |
Author | ESA/BepiColombo/MTM |
Activity InfoField | Space Science |
Mission InfoField | BepiColombo |
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This media was created by the European Space Agency (ESA).
Where expressly so stated, images or videos are covered by the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) licence, ESA being an Intergovernmental Organisation (IGO), as defined by the CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO licence. The user is allowed under the terms and conditions of the CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO license to Reproduce, Distribute and Publicly Perform the ESA images and videos released under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO licence and the Adaptations thereof, without further explicit permission being necessary, for as long as the user complies with the conditions and restrictions set forth in the CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO licence, these including that:
See the ESA Creative Commons copyright notice for complete information, and this article for additional details.
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This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO license. Attribution: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM, CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
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current | 12:03, 2 October 2021 | 1,024 × 1,024 (821 KB) | OptimusPrimeBot (talk | contribs) | #Spacemedia - Upload of https://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2021/10/a_taste_of_mercury_geology_annotated/23492929-1-eng-GB/A_taste_of_Mercury_geology_annotated.png via Commons:Spacemedia |
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Software used | Adobe Photoshop 22.5 (Macintosh) |
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Date and time of digitizing | 14:13, 2 October 2021 |
File change date and time | 14:16, 2 October 2021 |
Date metadata was last modified | 14:16, 2 October 2021 |
Unique ID of original document | xmp.did:ff4df873-42d4-452f-8bc6-f551cfd4a3d2 |
Horizontal resolution | 118.11 dpc |
Vertical resolution | 118.11 dpc |