Mercury appears
in colors beyond the range of the human eye, as seen in this image from
the MESSENGER spacecraft.
Last week,
MESSENGER transmitted to Earth the first high-resolution image
of Mercury by a spacecraft in over 30 years. This time MESSENGER's Wide Angle
Camera has 11 narrow-band color filters, in contrast to the two visible-light
filters and one ultraviolet filter that were on Mariner 10's vidicon camera.
The color image combines three separate images that filter infrared, far red,
and violet light through red, green, and blue channels.
Seeing in
color allows scientists to spot more subtle color variations that show
different rock and mineral types. Such information will help address
fundamental questions about how Mercury formed and evolved.
— NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of
Washington and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
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