Both meteorites contain olivine and pyroxene, minor albitic plagioclase and oldhamite. Such features are consistent with predictions for Mercury's surface composition. Additionally, their oxygen ...

As the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury is exposed to the star's enormous gravitational field. And it's really stressful.

Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system and the one closest to the Sun, has long baffled scientists with its twisted, fractured surface. Towering cliffs, deep ridges, and sprawling ...

An amazing variety of features cover the surface of Mercury, which likely formed when material in the planet's mantle (the layer just below the surface crust) melted and came to the surface ...

Two new maps of Mercury use novel techniques to map the chemical makeup of the crust and identify previously unknown formations on the planet's surface.

The squeezing of its crust created features such as wrinkle ridges—tight waves in the rock that form over time as the surface draws together. [First Photos of Mercury from Orbit (Gallery)] ...

Messenger is photographing every inch of Mercury's surface from orbit, and some of its early pictures have revealed huge expanses of volcanic deposits near the planet's north pole. These features ...

The topography (surface features) of a planet is shaped by internal forces and weathering—which in the case of Mercury is primarily from meteor impacts, since it lacks an atmosphere.

During its four-year mission, MESSENGER took one weekly photo of Mercury's edge, shown below. Scientists use these limb images to study the shape and size of the planet's surface features.

Mercury’s surface might not be quite so terra firma, at least on geologic timescales. Scientists have long suspected that many of Mercury’s signature terrains have been shaped by volcanic ...

The squeezing of its crust created features such as wrinkle ridges—tight waves in the rock that form over time as the surface draws together. [ First Photos of Mercury from Orbit (Gallery) ] ...