Comments on: Jaw-dropping mosaic of Mercury’s battered, beautiful face

By: Faustino Romero Guzmán

Faustino Romero Guzmán — Mon, 23 May 2011 11:39:37 +0000

how much less battered Mercury is compared to our moon.
I mean, yes there are tons of craters in them, but they seem smaller and the surface seems less “broken” of the moons. Not sure, maybe it’s just an impression of cheating. Can only be because the mercury is slightly larger than the moon and so do the smaller craters. It could also be that mercury is more dense?

By: edgar

edgar — Wed, 18 May 2011 04:38:48 +0000

awesome! but why is it left to an “amateur” to do this… nasa should be commissioning images like these all the time!

By: Brittany

Brittany — Tue, 17 May 2011 04:44:37 +0000

Thank you for posting the link to Gordon Ugarkovic’s flickr stream! I am in awe, especially of the mosaics of all the photos from Cassini. Can I die and have my soul implanted into the Cassini probe? I would be happy.

By: Sean McCorkle

Sean McCorkle — Sat, 14 May 2011 12:59:13 +0000

Following up on Jamey’s comment 15:

Perusing the large image, I just now noticed a number of craters to the right of the terminator with central “peaks” which appear to be rings! And there’s at least two other examples of craters with concentric rings. Large impacts sites (Caloris on Mercury, Valhalla on Callisto) show concentric structures, but these are relatively small craters! I don’t recall ever seeing examples like this on the Moon—is there something about Mercury that changes impact dynamics? Maybe the melted rock stays in a liquid state longer and more “ripples” get frozen in, or something?

Exquisite image! Thank you for posting it!

By: Kiku

Kiku — Sat, 14 May 2011 11:17:08 +0000

Absolutely amazing! Congratulations Gordan and thanks Phil for bring us this!

By: Anchor

Anchor — Sat, 14 May 2011 09:13:38 +0000

This is by far superior to mosaics typically issued by NASA or JPL. It makes me wonder how much image data of so many planets and moons has been denied this sort of exceptional treatment. It takes true dedication and an exceedingly sharp (yes, artistic!!!) eye to acheive a result like this.

THANK YOU Gordon Ugarkovic for showing everyone how it is properly done!!!

Absolutely magnificent.

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Sat, 14 May 2011 05:35:29 +0000

Magnificent Mercurian (i)mages batman!

More Mercurian news – click on my name for source – apparently the natural feature made by crossing crater chains on Mercury (an ineffective “no-cratering” sign?) that the BA wrote about the other day (see ‘X-crater first class’ posted on 9th May 2011 at 6.59 a.m.) has started the Hoaxland types going wild.

Just as #8. buffalodavid & # 11. Evolving Squid predicted in the comments there.

*****

PS. There’s now 2 days, 7 hours, 17 minutes and 55 seconds on the countdown clock for the final launch of Endeavour orbiter and the penultimate Space Shuttle launch ever.

By: Troy

Troy — Sat, 14 May 2011 05:15:30 +0000

I notice in the few times I’ve seen Mercury through the telescope it appears more pinkish. I wonder if that is just an atmospheric effect as this image has more of a grayish hue.

By: Jamey

Jamey — Sat, 14 May 2011 04:24:54 +0000

It looks like a lot more of the craters have central peaks than I’m used to – perhaps this is because the temperature of the rocks makes them more plastic, allowing them to form the splash peak? And there’s one nice crater (near the I presume relatively fresh crater with the extensive ray formation that looks almost like the rays were blown around by the wind before they settled?) with three ejecta chains that look like they got blown around by the wind a bit, as well. This is a *SERIOUSLY* awesome picture!

By: Sam H

Sam H — Sat, 14 May 2011 02:30:17 +0000

By any chance, is this a true-colour picture? It certainly looks that way. But VERY beautiful and so utterly detailed – even if it isn’t a 3D version (which they should DEFINITELY make ), it really feels like one is floating thousands of kilometres away in space, feeling the SIZE and majesty of the pockmarked spheroid looming before them.

I found something: near the terminator just north of the central horizontal axis (which may be the equator, but I can’t be sure) is a crater with a group of central mountains that look, to me, suspiciously like an anus. Kuhnigget: If the IAU hasn’t layed down a claim yet (which I don’t think they have), maybe we should name this one “Ju Hua”, no?

By: Crudely Wrott

Crudely Wrott — Sat, 14 May 2011 02:00:54 +0000

Wow. Look at all the places!

Looking at the 25MegaPixel image I went back in time to some old Asimov stories that featured Mercury as a setting.

Lucky Starr was there and so, if memory serves, were a couple of robot stories. Little Lost Robot?

I read them nearly fifty years ago and in my mind I created my own model of Mercury, sizzling on one side and frigid on the other with a curious temperate zone that fluctuated along the limb. Lots of craters, of course. Now this image. I recognize it and in fact if I were to be shown it without caption I would immediately guess Mercury.

To see the actual place, where before only imagination could find a point of view, and to see it familiar, recognizable, is kind of an epiphany. I find it quite uplifting as well as highly entertaining that the model I formed in my brain, largely informed by science fiction, is congruent with the actual thing. We do indeed live in an age of wonder.

Chances are we will keep wondering and thereby discover and create new wonders. Not only is this a wonder in itself but it is, at least for me, a confirmation, a vindication, for the idea that our minds display the potential to contain ever more accurate and complete models of the universe.

Perhaps, when the universe ceases to have any locality, there will be a model elsewhere that continues. Just imagine being one of those brains!

In the interest of full disclosure, I didn’t anticipate the white rays of ejecta from a small subset of craters. There also seems to be a lot of small craters concentrated in the low latitudes. Didn’t think of that either.

Issac would have so loved this picture. Thanks again, Phil.

By: sylph

sylph — Sat, 14 May 2011 01:24:18 +0000

Thank You! It is greatly appreciated that there are amateurs who have the desire to spend their time creating images like this and sharing them with the world! Thank you again

By: Scott K

Scott K — Sat, 14 May 2011 01:21:36 +0000

Phil (et al), I thought you’d like this Clarke quote (especially in light of a post like this):

“I sometimes think that the universe is a machine designed for the perpetual astonishment of astronomers.” — Sir Arthur C. Clarke, (b. 1917-12-16, d. 2008-03-19)

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:34:27 +0000

Wow, the closer you look the more impressive it is. Was there ever water on Mercury? I think not but looking in the top right (just above the huge dark carter) it almost looks like dried river beds flowing downhill. Probably just boulders but damn, I’ve been staring for 15 minutes now.

By: chad

chad — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:33:21 +0000

awesome! but why is it left to an “amateur” to do this… nasa should be commissioning images like these all the time!

By: J. Major

J. Major — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:00:01 +0000

Another amazing image by a very talented photo editor! Thanks for bringing it to our attention, and of course thanks to Mr. Ugarkovic for all his hard work!

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:55:09 +0000

Forget the “pale” dark streak, there’s a good-size dark circle near the right edge, a small crater filled with white material near the top (between two other craters, near the top of the large actually pale area), and a tectonic-looking scarp near the middle of the terminator. The area in the upper left with pale streaks extending form it has a very young crater at its center. Ooh, piece of candy. Ooh, piece of candy. Ooh, piece of candy.

By: Alph

Alph — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:22:35 +0000

Nice picture. It would be interesting to know how bright it would be if I was standing on the surface with the Sun overhead. Would it be twice as bright as on Earth? Projector-in-your-eyes bright?

By: Chris A.

Chris A. — Fri, 13 May 2011 17:27:11 +0000

I’m still trying to parse “pale, dark streak.” If it’s pale, how can it be dark? “Faint, dark streak” perhaps?

By: saphroneth

saphroneth — Fri, 13 May 2011 16:52:05 +0000

What I found interesting is that the stitch job isn’t quite perfect. If you run an Edge Detection algorithm on the picture, it actually reveals the different panes (as they were taken in different light conditions and adjusted to match, presumably). It also shows up the dark side more.

By: Elmar_M

Elmar_M — Fri, 13 May 2011 16:42:59 +0000

It is interesting how much less battered Mercury looks compared to our moon.
I mean, yes there are tons of craters on them, but they appear smaller and the surface appears less “shattered” than the moons. Not sure, maybe it is just an deceiving impressuion. It could just be because Mercury is (slightly) bigger than the moon and so the craters look smaller. It might also be because Mercury is denser?
Or maybe its location that close to the sun means it is more protected?
Phil?

By: PG

PG — Fri, 13 May 2011 16:39:28 +0000

Absolutely… just, wow. Bravo Mr. Gordan!

By: Kyle

Kyle — Fri, 13 May 2011 15:43:20 +0000

All I can say is wow, if that’s what an “amateur” can do what can the “professional” do? Well done Mr. Gordan well done indeed sir!

By: Hans

Hans — Fri, 13 May 2011 15:20:58 +0000

Done some stitching of photos into a panorama myself, but this is awesome!

By: kevbo

kevbo — Fri, 13 May 2011 14:53:55 +0000

“pale dark strip”?