Messenger Snaps Build Stunning Colour Globe Of Mercury

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/ef512264ea.jpg[/atsimg]
Part of the global colour view of Mercury including the vast Caloris impact basin, Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Amazing Full Size Image here
Full Size Image of The Other Side Of Mercury

View Mercury Spinning Here

Scientists working with NASA's Messenger probe produced a global colour map.

Thousands of sets of images were enhanced then stitched together in a mosaic to create a detailed image covering the entire planet. What they reveal has revolutionised our understanding of Mercury.


Rays from young, fresh impact craters appear light blue or white. Medium and dark-blue areas represent "low-reflectance" material in Mercury's crust, believed to be rich in a dark, opaque mineral.


Tan areas are plains formed by the eruption of highly fluid lavas. The large circular, yellowish area above center is a massive impact scar, the Caloris basin. Its interior is filled with smooth, somewhat younger volcanic plains. Small orangish spots are materials deposited by explosive volcanic eruptions.

www.sen.com...

Mercury

Mercury am I, gentle, soft,
Sixth planet, I send the winds aloft.
When other stars are warm, I'm hot;
I'm just as cold when they are not.
The Twins and the Maid so fine
Are the houses I account as mine.
In which I go most cleverly,
So Jupiter can't bewilder me.
I'm at my best when in the Maid,
But in the Fishes sure to fade.
Through all the signs I make my ways
In three hundred and four and thirty days.

Beautiful Image!

However, it should be noted that these are not the real colors of Mercury. They have been enhanced, plus false colors have been assigned to certain feature to enhance those features.

Of Interest: This colorful view of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER's primary mission. These colors are not what Mercury would look like to the human eye, but rather the colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up Mercury's surface.

Source


And From the article in the OP:

The images were taken with the spacecraft's Wide Angle Camera, part of the Mercury Dual Imaging System. The colours are enhancements to the planet's actual subtle hues and represent different surface characteristics, including compositional differences between features. They also reveal how long they have been exposed on the surface.

Rays from young, fresh impact craters appear light blue or white. Medium and dark-blue areas represent "low-reflectance" material in Mercury's crust, believed to be rich in a dark, opaque mineral.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Yes the image is enhanced with colour, as they appear light blue, white and tan.
( nothing false about it though )

Did you check out the movie, its amazing to watch the planet spin!

This composite image is far and away leaps better that any we have ever had.
It is stunningly beautiful!

reply to post by burntheships


I love mercury. I think its just simply beautiful. I like the little poem as well. Mercury is up there with the big boys in my book, Thanks for posting

Yat another exact copy of our moon. A nice picture but really.. I'm starting to think that earth is parked in the most dull neighborhood.

reply to post by TheDoctor46


it is by far the best real image we have ever had of Mars,
the ones in 2011 were cool, but they were so grey, and hard to imagine
anything from them.

Amazing stuff, thank you for posting this. S&F.

The colours (if they are real) are similar to the colours of the Moon. I wonder if it's because of similar mineral composition. Blue indicates titanium-rich minerals www.atalaia.org...

Originally posted by burntheships
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

 

Yes the image is enhanced with colour, as they appear light blue, white and tan.
( nothing false about it though )

Did you check out the movie, its amazing to watch the planet spin!

This composite image is far and away leaps better that any we have ever had.
It is stunningly beautiful!

I don't want to sound churlish, and the false colours are nice enough and all that jazz, but it's a very poor image in terms of resolution..the 'amazing full image' isn't amazing at all in my view. Colourful yes, detailed, certainly not.

I've taken clearer images of our moon through a 4" refractor, and that's obviously through the atmosphere...these colourised stitched images are from a probe capable of 20 - 50 meters/pixel.

The res on this image looks nothing even close to that.

Thanks for posting, and sorry if i seem ungrateful.

reply to post by wildespace


From the site of NASA

Medium and dark-blue areas represent "low-reflectance" material in Mercury's crust, believed to be rich in a dark, opaque mineral.

I like the earth from far away, Earth is really beautiful too ( even with all of the stuff we
have done to it) . So I guess in that sense, Mercury does not rival it.

reply to post by MysterX


The MESSENGER home page has better quality images. messenger.jhuapl.edu...

I de-enhanced the colours for a more natural look



This article explains the problems of taking "true colour" images of Mercury: messenger.jhuapl.edu...

But I do wonder, if we equip a space probe with a regular DSLR, shouldn't it return the normal, true-colour images, like they do here on Earth? It seems that the bizzare inability of space agencies to get true-colour images from their missions is factored by the need to do science, i.e to take b&w images through narrowband filters.

Originally posted by wildespace
... It seems that the bizzare inability of space agencies to get true-colour images from their missions is factored by the need to do science, i.e to take b&w images through narrowband filters.

This enhanced-color image of Mercury was purposefully done that way to show the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up Mercury's surface.

False color images of Mars are done for the same purpose (on purpose) -- to show an exaggerated contrasting color difference between materials so scientists can more easily study those materials and see the extent of those materials.

reply to post by wildespace


That is still stunning! Thanks, really a beautiful planet !

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Only on ATS ....haha
Even without the enhancment its stunning.
So much better than the photos from 2011.

Originally posted by jra
reply to post by MysterX

 

The MESSENGER home page has better quality images. messenger.jhuapl.edu...

Thanks a lot jra, i'll have a look for better resolution images.

Cheers for the link.