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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Tiny Mercury Had Huge Volcanic Eruptions, Probe Finds


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Combined images show Mercury as it might appear to the human eye (left) and in false color (right) to better show the planet's mineral composition.

The images are among those taken during an October 6, 2008, flyby of the solar system's smallest planet. Among other things, the new pictures show that tiny Mercury experienced an unusually large amount of volcanic activity in its past.

Image courtesy NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington