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We report an update to the photometric correction used to produce global color mosaics of Mercury, derived from an analysis of photometric observations acquired during the orbital phase of MESSENGER’s primary mission. Comparisons between versions of the color mosaic produced with photometric corrections derived from flyby and orbital data indicate that areas imaged at high incidence and emission angles...
A principal data product from MESSENGER’s primary orbital mission at Mercury is a global multispectral map in eight visible to near-infrared colors, at an average pixel scale of 1km, acquired by the Mercury Dual Imaging System. The constituent images have been calibrated, photometrically corrected to a standard geometry, and map projected. Global analysis reveals no spectral units not seen during...
Caloris basin, Mercury’s youngest large impact basin, is filled by volcanic plains that are spectrally distinct from surrounding material. Post-plains impact craters of a variety of sizes populate the basin interior, and the spectra of the material they have excavated enable the thickness of the volcanic fill to be estimated and reveal the nature of the subsurface. The thickness of the interior volcanic...
Analysis of images that were obtained at different phase angles can give clues to the texture of a planetary surface. Here we describe MESSENGER phase-ratio images for features on the surface of Mercury, including hollows on the floor of Eminescu basin, a pyroclastic deposit found within the Caloris basin, and a dark impact-melt flow produced by the impact that formed Waters crater. The results indicate...
Images returned by the MESSENGER spacecraft from the Mercury flybys have been examined to search for anomalous high-albedo markings similar to lunar swirls. Several features suggested to be swirls on the basis of Mariner 10 imaging (in the craters Handel and Lermontov) are seen in higher-resolution MESSENGER images to lack the characteristic morphology of lunar swirls. Although antipodes of large...
MESSENGER’s Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) obtained multispectral images for more than 80% of the surface of Mercury during its first two flybys. Those images have confirmed that the surface of Mercury exhibits subtle color variations, some of which can be attributed to compositional differences. In many areas, impact craters are associated with material that is spectrally distinct from the surrounding...
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