Source: Messenger Press Release
Image credit: NASA/MESSENGER
After only six months in orbit around Mercury, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft is sending back information that has revolutionized the way scientists think about the innermost planet. Analyses of new data from the spacecraft show, among other things, new evidence that flood volcanism has been widespread on Mercury, the first close-up views of Mercury's "hollows," the first direct measurements of the chemical composition of Mercury's surface, and the first global inventory of plasma ions within Mercury’s space environment.
The results are reported in a set of seven papers published in a special section of Science magazine on September 30, 2011.(read more)
