Monday, September 8, 2014

NASA MESSENGER: Seuss, a Complex Crater on Mercury

MESSENGER spacecraft in orbit around Mercury spotted Seuss, a complex crater with hollows visible on the crater's floor, at the top left of this image. 

The hollows appear brightly as blue-white features in this image which has had color enhanced.

Just outside of the crater rim, some material appears darker brown, which consists of Low Reflectance Material (LRM).

The impactor that created Seuss probably excavated this material.

Bright crater rays extending from Seuss consist of streams of ejecta thrown from the crater upon impact.

In the bottom right of the image lies an irregular, orange-yellow depression that may be a volcanic vent.

No comments:

Post a Comment