[meteorite-list] Two New Images from MESSENGER's First Flyby of Mercury

From: lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu <lebofsky_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:13:50 -0700 (MST)
Message-ID: <3552.71.226.60.25.1200539630.squirrel_at_timber.lpl.arizona.edu>

Jerry:

Yes, bright rays indicate younger craters. When the crater is created,
some of the rock is shock melted, forming a glassy material that we see as
the bright ray eminating from the impact site.

Larry

On Wed, January 16, 2008 7:55 pm, Jerry wrote:
> Do the bright rays indicate a more "recent" impact?
> Jerry Flaherty
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
> To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 8:36 PM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Two New Images from MESSENGER's First Flyby of
> Mercury
>
>
>
>>
>> http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/status_report_01_16_08_2.html
>>
>>
>> MESSENGER Mission News
>> January 16, 2008 [Evening Update]
>>
>>
>> Two New Images from MESSENGER's First Flyby of Mercury
>>
>>
>> Detailed Close-up of Mercury's Previously Unseen Surface
>>
>>
>> Just 21 minutes after MESSENGER's closest approach to Mercury on
>> January
>> 14, 2008, the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) took this picture
>> <http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?gallery_id=
>> 2&image_id=119>
>> showing a variety of intriguing surface features, including craters as
>> small as about 300 meters (about 300 yards) across.
>>
>> This is one of a set of 68 NAC images showing landscapes near Mercury's
>> equator on the side of the planet never before imaged by spacecraft.
>>> From such highly detailed close-ups, planetary geologists can study
>>> the
>> processes that have shaped Mercury's surface over the past 4 billion
>> years.
>>
>> One of the highest and longest scarps (cliffs) yet seen on Mercury
>> curves from the top center down across the right side of this image. (The
>> Sun is shining low from the left, so the scarp casts a wide
>> shadow.) Great forces in Mercury's crust have thrust the terrain
>> occupying the left two-thirds of the picture up and over the terrain to
>> the right. An impact crater has subsequently destroyed a small part of
>> the scarp near the top of the image.
>>
>> This image was taken from a distance of only 5,800 kilometers (3,600
>> miles) from surface of the planet and shows a region about 170 kilometers
>> (about 100 miles) across.
>>
>>
>> Mercury's Cratered Surface
>>
>>
>> During its flyby of Mercury, the MESSENGER spacecraft acquired
>> high-resolution images of the planet's surface. This image
>> <http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?gallery_id
>> =2&image_id=120>,
>> taken by the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) on the Mercury Dual Imaging System
>> (MDIS), was obtained on January 14, 2008, about 37 minutes after
>> MESSENGER's closest approach to the planet. The image reveals the
>> surface of Mercury at a resolution of about 360 meters/pixel (about 1,180
>> feet/pixel), and the width of the image is about 370 kilometers (about
>> 230 miles).
>>
>>
>> This image is the 98th in a set of 99 images that were taken in a
>> pattern of 9 rows and 11 columns to enable the creation of a large,
>> high-resolution mosaic of the northeast quarter of the region not seen
>> by Mariner 10. During the encounter with Mercury, the MDIS acquired
>> image sets for seven large mosaics with the NAC.
>>
>> This image shows a previously unseen crater with distinctive bright
>> rays of ejected material extending radially outward from the crater's
>> center. A chain of craters nearby is also visible. Studying impact
>> craters provides insight into the history and composition of Mercury as
>> well as dynamical processes that occurred throughout our Solar System.
>> The
>> MESSENGER Science Team has begun analyzing these high-resolution images
>> to unravel these fundamental questions.
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>>
>>
>> MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and
>> Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet
>> Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest
>> to the Sun. The MESSENGER spacecraft launched on August 3, 2004, and
>> after flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury will start a yearlong study
>> of its target planet in March 2011. Dr. Sean C. Solomon, of the Carnegie
>> Institution of Washington, leads the mission as principal
>> investigator. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
>> built and operates the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages this Discovery
>> -class
>> mission for NASA.
>>
>>
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Received on Wed 16 Jan 2008 10:13:50 PM PST