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Spectral Web
The top image is a MASCS VIRS instrument color composite over a region of cratered plains on Mercury that includes craters Mena (upper left), Cezanne, Philonexus, Chu Ta, and the unnamed "blue tongue" impact crater (lower right). Below is a contrast enhanced version of the MDIS mosaic without the VIRS overlay. In the VIRS color composite, the young rays of Mena and the blue tongue crater appear in yellows and oranges. Other colors in the VIRS composite are related to degree of space weathering and iron content of the surface materials.
Date acquired: April 24, 2012
Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington