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Night Falls on Mercury
Dec. 15, 2008
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| Title |
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Night Falls on Mercury |
| Description |
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Acquired as the MESSENGER spacecraft approached the planet during the mission’s second Mercury flyby, this NAC image captures a scene of nightfall on Mercury. The surface features on the right side of the image are illuminated by the last rays of sunlight and will soon be in the darkness of a Mercury night. Some high-standing rugged crater rims poke up into the light, while the lower-elevation crater interiors are already in darkness. Looking out toward the limb of the planet (upper left), extensive areas of smooth plains are visible, as also observed on other regions of the nearby surface. |
| Date |
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Dec. 15, 2008 |
| Credit |
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NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington |
| Source |
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JHUAPL |
| File Type |
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JPG |
| File Size |
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635KB |
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