Date Presented: November 29, 2012, at a NASA
press conference
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Of Interest: Perspective view of Mercury's north polar region with the
radar-bright regions shown in yellow. New results presented today at the NASA News Conference provide compelling evidence that the radar-bright deposits are water ice. View a higher resolution perspective view of Mercury's north polar region
here and a high resolution map view of the north polar region
here.
The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's
seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. Visit the
Why Mercury? section of this website to learn more about the key science questions that the MESSENGER mission is addressing. During the one-year primary mission, MESSENGER acquired 88,746 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is now in a yearlong extended mission, during which plans call for the acquisition of more than 80,000 additional images to support MESSENGER's science goals.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
For information regarding the use of MESSENGER images, see the image use policy.