Mercury: Kuiper crater seen by Messenger spacecraft

by: Nasa/JHUAPL/ Carnegie Institution of Washington/Novapix
Reference: a-mer04-00022
Date: 2008-10-10

During october 6 flyby of Mercury, MESSENGER's NAC captured a new view of the bright, radial ejecta rays of Kuiper crater that were previously imaged by Mariner 10 at a lower Sun angle. Kuiper crater is named for Gerard Kuiper, a Dutch-American astronomer who was also a member of the Mariner 10 team. Bright ejecta rays such as these are produced as impacts excavate and eject relatively unweathered subsurface material.

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