Space Pictures This Week: Surfing Mars, Mercury Rising - National Geographic

Image courtesy JHU/APL/NASA This might appear to be Earth's moon, but in fact this image is a striking portrait of Mercury's crater-filled surface taken by NASA's MESSENGER orbiter on April 23, 2013. Mercury's southern hemisphere has many impact craters with central peaks, including the distinct bright spokes radiating out of the 50-kilometer-wide (31-mile-wide) Han Kan crater visible near the center of this image. Planetary scientists believe that this crater may be relatively young, compared with its surroundings, as evidenced by the fresh, white system of rays. The pattern is believed to have been formed when white-colored ejecta material from underground was flung into space by an impact, and then splattered back down onto the darker surface. Published June 14, 2013 via Science - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGfsw-QOCdQxnCuIjaK69bve33K1Q&url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/pictures/130614-space-science-nasa-mercury-mars-star-storm-photography/

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