News Space

MESSENGER’s second pass

Another Mercury flyby reveals details about the planet’s magnetic field and geology

By Ron Cowen

- More than 2 years ago

Mercury is on the rise.

NEW FIND ON MERCURY Discovered during MESSENGER’s second flyby of Mercury, the Rembrandt crater (central circle denoted by arrows) has a diameter of about 715 kilometers and is the second largest impact basin known on the planet. T. Watters et al., image courtesy of Science/AAAS
Geological features identified during MESSENGER’s second flyby include an unnamed crater (arrow) about 100 kilometers in diameter with a ray system extending more than 4,500 km.