MESSENGER, the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, obtained the image. According to NASA, Mercury appears tan and numerous hues of blue in the image, with craters marking the surface, allowing scientists to investigate the geological aspects.
NASA stated in it’s instagram post that Mercury, slightly larger than Earth’s Moon, is the smallest planet in the solar system and the nearest to the Sun, at an average distance of 36 million miles (58 million kilometers). While Mercury is the smallest planet, it is also the fastest, speeding at about 29 miles (47 km) per second in its orbit, making a year on Mercury only 88 Earth days. MESSENGER, the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, collected color enhanced maps to detect chemical, mineralogical, and physical distinctions in rocks on the planet’s surface.
Mercury lacks an atmosphere and instead contains a thin exosphere comprised primarily of oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium, and potassium. Due to its lack of atmosphere and proximity to the Sun, daytime and night time on Mercury swing dramatically in temperature ranging from 800ºF (430ºC) during the day to -290 ºF (-180 ºC) at night. Mercury’s comparatively weak magnetic field compared to Earth, at just 1% strength of our own, interacts with solar winds creating magnetic tornados that tear across the planet’s surface.”
