A ghostly coronal light reveals Mercury's rugged and inhospitable surface.
A ghostly coronal light reveals Mercury's rugged and inhospitable surface. High up in the dark sky the bright object at the two o'clock position is the Earth, which is in full-phase due to it being nearly behind the Sun in relation to Mercury. The three points of light beneath the Earth are the stars Graffias, Dshubba, and Pi Scorpii in the constellation Scorpius. A visit to Mercury would not be without its aesthetic pleasures. Given Mercury's proximity to the Sun and its lack of atmosphere, just before sunrise and sunset a visitor would be treated to a front row seat to the Sun's dazzling corona. Mercury's leisurely rotation rate would permit the corona to be observed for as long as several Earth weeks before being either upstaged by the brilliance of the Sun or disappearing below the horizon. Mercury's period of rotation is 59 Earth days, however this rotation rate combined with Mercury's brisk orbit around the Sun, results in 88 Earth days between sunrise and sunset.
Size: 4920px × 3690px
Photo credit: © Walter Myers / Stocktrek Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: art, artwork, astronomical, astronomy, color, corona, craters, digitally, edge, exogeology, feature, fiction, futuristic, generated, geology, ghostly, glow, halo, horizon, horizontal, illustration, image, imagination, impact, land, landform, landscape, light, mercury, objects, outdoors, people, planetary, planets, rough, rugged, scenic, science, sky, solar, space, sun, sunlight, sunrise, sunset, surface, system, terrain, terrestrial, texture, topography, vista
