European and Japanese Spacecraft Examines Mercury's Pole
2025-01-16
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1A spacecraft recently sent back some of the best close-up pictures yet of the planet Mercury's north pole.
2The European and Japanese robotic explorer went as close as 295 kilometers above Mercury's night side before passing directly over the planet's north pole.
3The European Space Agency (ESA) released images that show craters with deep shadows on our solar system's smallest planet.
4ESA noted that the edges, or rims, of the craters called Prokofiev, Kandinsky, Tolkien and Gordimer create permanent shadows.
5As a result, these unlit craters are some of the coldest places in the Solar System even though Mercury is the closest planet to the sun.
6Cameras also took images of neighboring volcanic plains known as Borealis Planitia.
7ESA noted that these are "Mercury's largest expanse of 'smooth plains' and were formed by the widespread eruption of...lava 3.7 billion years ago."
8Also appearing in the images released by ESA is Mercury's largest impact crater, the Caloris Basin, which covers more than 1,500 kilometers.
9This was the sixth and final flyby of Mercury for the BepiColombo spacecraft since its launch in 2018.
10The recent move put the spacecraft on a path to enter orbit around Mercury late next year.
11The spacecraft holds two orbiters, one from Europe and the other from Japan, that will circle the planet's poles.
12In a statement on its website, ESA noted that Mercury, a small, dry planet, is "the least explored planet of the inner Solar System. Learning more about Mercury will shed light on the history of the entire Solar System."
13The spacecraft is named for the late Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo, an Italian mathematician.
14Colombo played a part in NASA's Mariner 10 mission to Mercury in the 1970s and, 20 years later, in the Italian Space Agency's special satellite project that flew on the U.S. Space Shuttle.
15I'm John Russell.
1A spacecraft recently sent back some of the best close-up pictures yet of the planet Mercury's north pole. 2The European and Japanese robotic explorer went as close as 295 kilometers above Mercury's night side before passing directly over the planet's north pole. 3The European Space Agency (ESA) released images that show craters with deep shadows on our solar system's smallest planet. 4ESA noted that the edges, or rims, of the craters called Prokofiev, Kandinsky, Tolkien and Gordimer create permanent shadows. As a result, these unlit craters are some of the coldest places in the Solar System even though Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. 5Cameras also took images of neighboring volcanic plains known as Borealis Planitia. ESA noted that these are "Mercury's largest expanse of 'smooth plains' and were formed by the widespread eruption of...lava 3.7 billion years ago." 6Also appearing in the images released by ESA is Mercury's largest impact crater, the Caloris Basin, which covers more than 1,500 kilometers. 7This was the sixth and final flyby of Mercury for the BepiColombo spacecraft since its launch in 2018. The recent move put the spacecraft on a path to enter orbit around Mercury late next year. The spacecraft holds two orbiters, one from Europe and the other from Japan, that will circle the planet's poles. 8In a statement on its website, ESA noted that Mercury, a small, dry planet, is "the least explored planet of the inner Solar System. Learning more about Mercury will shed light on the history of the entire Solar System." 9The spacecraft is named for the late Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo, an Italian mathematician. Colombo played a part in NASA's Mariner 10 mission to Mercury in the 1970s and, 20 years later, in the Italian Space Agency's special satellite project that flew on the U.S. Space Shuttle. 10I'm John Russell. 11Marcia Dunn reported this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English. 12___________________________________________ 13Words in This Story 14shadow - v. to cast a shadow (a dark figure cast upon a surface when a body blocks the rays of a light) 15crater - n. a low area or depression formed by an impact 16expanse - n. a great extent or distance of something that is spread out 17erupt - v. to force out or release suddenly (often lava or steam that is pent up) 18shed light -idiom to expand or increase knowledge