This stunning photo of Mercury’s crater-scarred surface was taken by the BepiColombo mission, a joint effort of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), when the spaceship sailed near to the planet for a gravitation assist manoeuvre.
The Monitoring Camera 2 mounted on Mercury Transfer Module’s captured this image of Mercury’s diverse geological features on June 23 while the spaceship was 920 km away from the surface of the sun-closest planet. About 5 minutes prior to the image’s capture, the spaceship made its closest nearest approach at a distance of 200 km from the surface.
The camera produced black-and-white photographs at a resolution of 1024 × 1024, but in order to “fine tune the details,” the picture was stretched to 2048 x 2048 pixels. The Mercury Planetary Orbiter’s following components are seen in the picture: The bottom left to top right running magnetometer boom, and a modicum portion of the bottom right medium-gain antenna.
It’s worthwhile to know that the illumination in the photograph is different than any that NASA’s MESSENGER mission to Mercury could record. This highlights the distinctions between newer, slick ground and older, rocky terrain. Along with other geological characteristics, large impact craters, like the 200km-wide multi-ringed basin partially obscured by the magnetometer boom, are also plainly visible.
From picture’s bottom to the magnetometer boom, a noticeable sunlight scarp can be seen. Although it is around 200 km in, this photograph only shows 170 kilometres of it. It is a component of Mercury’s worldwide system of geologic faults and is 2 Km high. Earlier in the month, it was given the moniker “Challenger Rupes.”
“Cahuilla Planum” refers to the flat plains to Challenger Rupes’ right in the photograph. The 130-kilometer-wide Eminescu crater, which has a brilliant centre peak feature that catches the sunlight from the angle of the spacecraft, is another striking crater that can be seen in the upper right of the image. Due to the presence of “hollows,” a geological phenomenon peculiar to Mercury, this crater will be very fascinating.
The 170-kilometer-wide crater Izquierdo is named for the Mexican artist Mara Izquierdo, who lived in the 20th century. The impact basin’s narrow floor is a result of the molten lava that partially filled it. The rims of smaller, earlier craters known as “ghost craters,” which have been buried by the lava that filled the basin, may also be seen on its bottom.
Image Credits: ESA
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