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Raumfahrt - Messenger-Foto von Merkur-Krater Xiao Zhao

 

 

Named after a 12th century Chinese artist, Xiao Zhao is a young 15-mile (24-kilometer) wide crater on Mercury. Its broad, bright rays indicate its youthfulness, as the lighter material ejected by the initial impact has not yet had enough time to grow dark."Young" is a relative term, of course. On Mercury that can still mean several billion years old!This color image was made with a combination of images acquired by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft on Dec. 29, 2011 with its Wide-Angle Camera (WAC). The individual images were captured in eight different wavelengths, some of which would be visible to the human eye.Just to the right of Xiao Zhao is the larger Eastman crater.By IAU agreement, all newly-discovered craters on Mercury are named after deceased international artists, authors and composers who have made outstanding contributions to their field and have been recognized as significant figures for at least 50 years.

 

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