Website review: NASA - New Discoveries on Mercury
TapwaterJ discovered this in Science/Tech
•4 reviews since Jul 4, 2008
science
•science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/03jul_mercur...
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TapwaterJ discovered 6 weeks ago
New Discoveries On Mercury
A color image of the Caloris basin and adjacent regions. Orange hues just inside the Caloris basin rim mark the locations of features thought to be volcanic. Dr. Tony Phillips, NASA Mercury's magnetic field is "alive." Volcanic vents ring the planet's giant Caloris Basin. And Mercury has shrunk in on itself more than previously suspected. These are just a few of the new discoveries by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, which flew past Mercury on January 14, 2008. The results are described in a series of 11 papers published in a special July 4th issue of Science magazine. Six of the papers in Science report studies of the planet's surface--its colors, mineralogy, and the shape of its terrain. For instance, the color enhanced image [above] reveals evidence of volcanic vents along the margins of Caloris basin, one of the Solar System's largest and youngest impact basins. By combining Mariner 10 and MESSENGER data, the science team was able to reconstruct a comprehensive geologic history of the entire Caloris basin interior," says James Head of Brown University, lead author of one of the Science reports. "The basin was formed from an impact by an asteroid or comet during a period of heavy bombardment in the first billion years of Solar System history. As with the lunar maria, a period of volcanic activity followed, producing lava flows that filled the basin interior. This volcanism is responsible for the comparatively light, red material of the interior plains intermingled with [newer] impact crater deposits." Finding volcanic vents around Caloris resolves an old debate among planetary scientists: Are smooth plains on Mercury, such as the interior of Caloris basin, caused by erupting lava or some other process? Lava has won the day." Mercury Magnetosphere Plasma Video ~ ~ ~
- JanaeW rated 5 weeks ago
- Amazing what we continue to learn.
- gatorindo rated 7 weeks ago
- Science moves on. Latest information from Mercury probe says the closest planet to the sun has a powerful magnetic force.
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