Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Northern Mercury

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 1, 2012 is “Northern Mercury,” an image. It is credited to Credit: NASA / JHU Applied Physics Lab / Carnegie Inst. Washington. The original explanation runs about 182 words.

Northern Mercury
Credit: NASA / JHU Applied Physics Lab / Carnegie Inst. Washington Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Innermost planet Mercury would probably not be a good location for an interplanetary winter olympics . But new results based on data from the Mercury orbiting MESSENGER spacecraft indicate that it does have substantial water ice in permanently shadowed regions within craters near its north pole.”

— APOD editors, December 1, 2012

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 1, 2012
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: NASA / JHU Applied Physics Lab / Carnegie Inst. Washington
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 182 words

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.