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Messenger delivers first-ever hi-res photos of Mercury

We told you we'd post up pics when they came back from Messenger, and here they are — just click for hi-res: d404d_mercury-far-side-first-imag.jpg

Sure it looks kind of like the moon, but already a few unique things are coming out from this picture. The topography of the Caloris Basin, one of the largest impact areas in the solar system, is revealed in full. We can also see bands or cliffs called "rupes" that score some of the craters. These are places where tectonic uplift occurred after crater impact, showing that Mercury still may have geological compression going on.

We'll keep you posted on any other Mercurial developments.

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