✦ Today's cosmos

Degas Ray Crater on Mercury Credit:

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day · December 8, 1996
Degas Ray Crater on Mercury
Credit:
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via NASA APOD
◆ What you're looking at
Like the Earth's Moon, Mercury is scarred with craters, testifying to an intense bombardment during the early history of the Solar System. In 1974, the Mariner 10 spacecraft surveyed this innermost planet up close, producing the only detailed images of its tortured surface. In the above mosaic the bright rays emanating from the 27 mile wide Degas crater almost appear to be painted on. The rays consist of light colored material blasted out during the crater's formation. Numerous smaller, younger craters are seen superposed on the Degas crater itself.