Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007agufm.p44a..08b&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #P44A-08
Other
5464 Remote Sensing, 5470 Surface Materials And Properties, 6235 Mercury
Scientific paper
Mariner 10 visited the planet Mercury during three flybys in 1974-75. Images obtained by its twin vidicon cameras through orange (575 nm) and UV (355 nm) filters during the first and second flyby have been radiometrically calibrated, photometrically normalized, and reprojected to a common map format. This effort has produced color mosaics (UV and orange) for the first-encounter incoming (3-km/pixel) and outgoing (4-km/pixel) portions of the planet. These datasets provide important information on mercurian color characteristics, and offer a preview of the data that will be returned by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its first Mercury flyby in January, 2008. The color data for Mercury is interpreted within the framework of understanding developed through remote sensing and returned-sample studies of the Moon. The co-registered UV and orange mosaics allow spectral parameter maps to be constructed. If the lunar assumptions hold for Mercury, then one parameter is a measure of the combined effects of ferrous iron abundance and maturity and the other is related to the abundance of opaque phases. "Maturity" is a term used to describe the extent to which materials have been modified by the solar wind (implantation and sputtering) and bombardment by micrometeorites and cosmic rays. The spectral parameter images reveal embayment relationships at the edges of some plains units suggestive of emplacement by effusive volcanism. Elsewhere, the color and morphology of some dark deposits are consistent with pyroclastic activity. Other low-albedo materials show no color difference relative to the global average. Examination of impact craters in the opaque-phase map demonstrates that at some locations material excavated from depth has a lower abundance of opaques than the average surface. This stratigraphy may be the result of magma ocean processes similar to those on the Moon. Crater rays are bright predominantly because they are composed of fresh, unweathered (immature) material, though inherent compositional and albedo contrasts with the substrate contribute to the brightness of some rays. We will provide additional results from our on-going analysis of the two-color data for the outgoing hemisphere. This area is home to craters with dark haloes, extremely long arcuate crater rays, and plains materials associated with the Caloris basin. We will also recap observational plans for the MESSENGER encounter in January, 2008.
Blewett Dave T.
Hawke Bernard Ray
Lucey Paul
Robinson Mark S.
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