Mercury up close

NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Messenger's wide-angle color camera can image in 11 colors, ranging from visible through near-infrared. In this image the 1000 nanometer, 750 nm, and 430 nm filters are displayed in red, green, and blue, respectively. Some minerals absorb more light at longer wavelengths than at shorter ones and NASA hopes that the different color images will disclose more information about the variation in the composition of Mercury's surface.

Mercury's North Pole

Photographed from 280 miles above Mercury, this first look at the terrain near the planet's North Pole shows a region covered in secondary craters made by an impact outside of the field of view.

Exploring the Rays of Debussy

The Debussy crater, located at the top part of this image, features a large system of rays in greater detail than ever previously seen. NASA says that the rays extend for hundreds of kilometers across Mercury's surface. The crater was named in March 2010 in honor of French composer Claude Debussy.

An annotated guide to the Mercury's first orbital image

37 years ago, Mariner 10 took this historic first orbital image of Mercury. Labels have been added to indicate several craters that were named based on Mariner 10 images, as well as Debussy, Matabei, and Berkel, which were named based on Messenger's flyby images.

First image ever obtained from Mercury orbit

Save this one for the annals: this image is the first photograph Messenger took of Mercury. Another 363 images followed and NASA is now poring over that trove.