At the left (Sx) edge of this image-mosaic (approx. 260 Km - such as about 161,46 miles - acros) made out of three frames taken by the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft on July, 5, 2014, we can see is a (always relatively speaking) "fresh" Impact Crater, which had been featured previously in other MESSENGER's images. Chains of (probably) Secondary Impact Craters can be seen emanating from the aforementioned "fresh" Crater, but its Rays have already nearly faded into the dark background. On the other hand, other bright, and white Rays (very well visible in this picture) do cross the scene from the North/West to the South/East, but these are the famous Rays of Hokusai Crater, which is located over 1000 Km (such as about 621 miles) away! Date acquired: July, 5th, 2014 This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft's enhanced false colors and Map-Projected image-mosaic published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 18803) has been additionally processed, contrast enhanced, Gamma corrected, magnified to aid the visibility of the details and then re-colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft and then looked outside, towards the Surface of Mercury), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. Different colors, as well as different shades of the same color, mean, among other things, the existence of different Elements (Minerals) present on the Surface of Mercury, each having a different Albedo (---> Reflectivity) and Chemical Composition. |