Mercury enhanced color

3D Model

Enhanced color surface map of Mercury. The enhanced color was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER’s primary mission. These colors are not what Mercury would look like to the human eye, but rather the colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up Mercury’s surface. This specific color combination places the second principal component in the red channel, the first principal component in the green channel, and the ratio of the 430 nm/1000 nm filters in the blue channel.

Source: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?image_id=1226