Posted: Fri, Jun 17, 2011, 6:53 AM ET (1053 GMT)
Early analysis of data returned by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft have provided planetary scientists with new information about the innermost planet. MESSENGER entered orbit around Mercury in March after performing three flybys of the planet, and is now returning a steady flow of data. Scientists have used MESSENGER to measure craters at the poles, finding that some craters are deep enough to be in permanent shadow. That supports earlier radar observations of the planet's poles that detected signatures consistent with ice that could survive for extended periods in shadowed regions. Other observations revealed that bright, patchy deposits seen in some crater floors are rimless pits surrounded by diffuse halos of more reflective material that could be linked to volatiles in the planet's crust. MESSENGER's instruments have also detected a regular series of energetic events in the planet's magnetosphere.
