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NASA’ robotic spacecraft MESSENGER (an acronym of MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) has been studying Mercury‘s chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field since March 18, 2011. Recently, NASA has released high-resolution images of Mercury’s pockmarked surface taken by the probe.

While MESSENGER was studying Mercury, it explored vast chemical diversity on Mercury’s surface. Later, MESSENGER even found new evidence for Water Ice at Mercury’s poles. After that, MESSENGER started to study the planet more deeply. The above image you see of Mercury is the result of deep study made by MESSENGER.

After collecting enormous data from Messenger spacecraft, NASA created the above color mosaic of the south polar region on Mercury in conjunction with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). The image reveals the unprecedented detail of Mercury’s crater-filled surface. The image includes both an eight-colour mosaic of the planet’s entire surface and a higher-quality monochrome version. On the other side, NASA is hosting most of the major images through its Messenger QuickMap tool, which provides a map-style interface allowing users to zoom in and out.

NASA released the high-resolution image above on March 8. If you want to see more Mosaic images of Mercury’s surface, you will find it at the Messenger site.

Source: NASA

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