Mercury TOP STORY
Radar Exposes Mercury's Interior 
© NSF/NASA
Mercury's Interior
Researchers working with high-precision planetary radars, including the Goldstone Solar System Radar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., have discovered strong evidence that the planet Mercury has a molten core
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Mercury
The Sun Sends Two CMEs Toward Mercury
© NASA/ESA/PSI
CME Erupting From The Sun
On the night of April 24 and the morning of April 25, 2013, the sun erupted with two coronal mass ejections (CMEs), solar phenomena that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space that can affect electronic systems in satellites.
Mercury
First Meteorite From Mercury Found?
Early in 2012, someone in Southern Morocco picked up 35 greenish stones, including the one shown above. Purchased by a dealer in Erfoud, Morocco, it was then resold to Stefan Ralew, a meteorite collector from Berlin.
Mercury
Newly Named Craters on Mercury
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) - the arbiter of planetary and satellite nomenclature since its inception in 1919 - recently approved a proposal from the MESSENGER Science Team to assign names to nine impact craters on Mercury. In keeping with the established naming theme for craters on Mercury, all of the newly designated features are named after famous deceased artists, musicians, or authors or other contributors to the humanities.
Mercury
Mercury Rising: Pink Planet at Sunset 
The planet Mercury is about to make its best apparition of the year for backyard sky watchers. Look west at sunset for a piercing pink planet surrounded by twilight blue.
Mercury
New Evidence for Water Ice at Mercury's North Pole
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has identified large concentrations of hydrogen at Mercury's north pole, thought to be in the form of water ice, researchers announced today.
Mercury
MESSENGER Finds Unusual Features on Mercury
MESSENGER has discovered assemblages of tectonic landforms unlike any previously found on Mercury or elsewhere in the Solar System.
Mercury
MESSENGER Completes Its 1,000th Orbit of Mercury
MESSENGER completed its 1,000th orbit of the planet closest to the Sun at 11:22 p.m. EDT on 22 June 2012. "Reaching this milestone is yet another testimony to the hard work and dedication of the full MESSENGER team that has designed, launched, and operated this highly successful spacecraft," says the mission trajectory lead Jim McAdams of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
Mercury
NASA MESSENGER Image: Permanent Shadows at Mercury's South Pole
Of Interest: The highest-resolution radar image of Mercury's south polar region made from the Arecibo Observatory (Harmon et al., Icarus, 211, 37-50, 2011) is shown in white on MESSENGER orbital images colorized by the faction of time the surface is illuminated.
Mercury
NASA MESSENGER Image of Mercury: Hovnatanian Crater
Of Interest: Hovnatanian crater was formed by an object that impacted at a very oblique angle, causing the crater to appear elliptical. Although impacts at most angles produce circular craters, impacts with incidence angles <15o (from the horizontal) will create elliptical craters. The rays of Hovnatanian form a "butterfly" pattern, which also indicates an oblique impact.
Mercury
NASA MESSENGER Image of Mercury: Interior of the Rembrandt Impact Basin
Of Interest: The long scarp trending vertically on the left-side of this image is located in the interior of the large 715-kilometer diameter Rembrandt impact basin. The interior of Rembrandt hosts not only this compressional scarp but also a set of radial extensional troughs. View these links to see Rembrandt in color or in 3D.
Mercury
NASA MESSENGER Image of Mercury: Hollows Within an Impact Crater
Of Interest: This interesting complex crater exhibits many hollows along its floor and central peak complex. The hollows have a very high albedo, which makes this crater stand out prominently (for example, the crater can be seen clearly near the right hand side of this image).
Mercury
NASA MESSENGER Image of Mercury: Young Crater With Bright Rays
Of Interest: This high-resolution color image shows a 14-kilometer diameter crater that is relatively young, as indicated by the bright rays that cross the neighboring features. A dark "tongue" of impact melt, which has a bluer color than the nearby surface, appears to have flowed out of the crater.
Mercury
NASA Extends MESSENGER Mission
NASA has announced that it will extend the MESSENGER mission for an additional year of orbital operations at Mercury beyond the planned end of the primary mission on March 17, 2012. The MESSENGER probe became the first spacecraft to orbit the innermost planet on March 18, 2011.
Mercury
Sixteen Craters on Mercury Have New Names
The IAU recently approved a proposal from the MESSENGER Science Team to confer names on 16 impact craters on Mercury. The newly named craters were imaged during the mission's first two flybys of Mercury in January and October last year.
More top stories from May.
Mercury Mission Reports
BepiColombo
MESSENGER
Latest Video
Mercury Rising: Pink Planet at Sunset
New Evidence for Water Ice at Mercury's North Pole
NASA Extends MESSENGER Mission
Calendar
- 20 May: NASA Honors Sally Ride with a National Tribute at Kennedy Center
- 20 May: The Hadean Earth-Moon System - Workshop Without Walls
- 21 May: Space Technology Expo
- 21 May: Small Business Event Quarterly Meeting of the Stennis Business Consortium
- 21 May: NASA Advisory Council Aeronautics Committee; Unmanned Aircraft Systems Subcommittee Meeting
- 21 May: Hearing Next Steps in Human Exploration to Mars and Beyond
- 22 May: NASA Space Station SOcial
- 22 May: NASA Advisory Council Audit Finance and Analysis Committee Meeting
- 23 May: 2013 International Space Development Conference
- 24 May: Spacefest V
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