June 26, 2012
Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington and Dr Paolo C. Fienga/LXTT/IPF for the additional process. and color.
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Today's APOD is a view (taken by the Instrument, located onboard the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft and named "Mercury Dual Imaging System" - or MDIS) of a section of the Floor and Peak-Ring Mountains of the Raditladi Impact Basin. The rounded, kind of whitish (and slightly opaque in the center and on the adges) depressions, called "Hollows", and visible on the upper left side as well as on the extreme right portion of the frame, are, as far as the Planet Mercury is concerned, an extremely recent and fascinating discovery. The origin of the Hollows is still highly debated, but the most credited theory about the way they were created says that they could be the result of a phenomenon of Sublimation (such as the passage of an Element from the solid state to the gaseous one) of some (so far) unknown Subterranean Material that was suddenly (and violently) exposed by the occurrence of the Raditladi Impact Event. (note: each individual frame that has been used to create this mosaic, is about 20 Km wide) This frame has been 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 down, towards the Surface of Mercury), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team.
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