Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Unusual Hollows Discovered on Planet Mercury

NASA ^ | March 27, 2012 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: What are those unusual features on planet Mercury? The slightly bluish tinge of features dubbed hollows has been exaggerated on the above image by the robotic MESSENGER spacecraft currently orbiting Mercury. The rounded depressions appear different than impact craters and nothing like them has been noted on Earth's Moon or anywhere else in the Solar System. The above image is a section of the floor of Raditladi impact basin about 40 kilometers wide that includes the mountains of the central peak. One progenitor hypothesis is that the hollows formed from the sublimation of material exposed and heated during the violent impact that created the Raditladi basin. NASA's MESSENEGER is the first space spacecraft ever to orbit Mercury, and is currently scheduled to explore the Solar System's innermost planet into 2013.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: NASA/JHU APL/CIW]

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks .

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[SunkenCiv]

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[left that other site]

I live in Florida, and it gets HOT here.

But I understand that Mercury is MUCH worse.

[count-your-change]

Ummmm...The Ghostly Hollows.....Harry Potter Goes to Mercury.

[Happy Rain]

Sand Worm nests.

[KoRn]

Concentrate on those Blueish looking places long enough, and you begin to ‘see things’.

[Craftmore]

True,but its a dry heat,,,,,

[Phlap]

Surface temperatures reach 427°C.(about 800°F)

Stinking hot.

[BitWielder1]

Alien mining pits?

[The Cajun]

Kind of looks like solder splatter when you clean a soldering iron tip by shaking it towards the floor..........Just saying.

[henkster]

I liked the sublimation theory before I even read it...

[Paine in the Neck]

Looks like an EDM micrograph.

[Spirochete]

It resembles corrosive pitting, as if heavy flake rust was removed with a wire wheel.

[the invisib1e hand]

PHOTOSHOP!

[Oratam]

Any hidden stills tucked away in them hollows?

[fieldmarshaldj]

Dems pernounced “hollers”, son.

[blueunicorn6]

Moderator! Moderator! SunkenCiv is posting dirty space word photos again!

[NCC-1701]

If anyone had to live that close to the Sun, they’d have some weird looking things on them, too. I’d cut Mecury some slack.

[Oratam]

I recollect that from a long-ago reading of Chuck Yeager’s autobiography. Thank you for the correction.