Exploring Mercury: The Iron Planet (Springer Praxis Books). This item is unavailable.Exploring Mercury: The Iron Planet (Springer Praxis Books)

Strom: Mercury How did Mercury get such an enormous iron core? Why is its tectonic framework so different from any other planet or satellite? What is its crystal composition? Why is the crust so depleted in iron when the interior is so rich in that element? What are the polar deposits? Where do the elements in the exosphere come from? Mercury is a planet shrouded in mystery. Only 45 percent of its surface has been seen in any detail, and that was from the Mariner 10 flyby in 1974. Yet what is known only makes the planet more fascinating. New Earth-based observations have shed light on surface and exosphere compositions, and re-evaluations of the Mariner 10 data, using modern image processing techniques, show evidence for volcanic flow fronts, pyroclastics and other volcanic phenomena not seen before. This ground-breaking book not only chronicles what has been discovered, but looks ahead to what has yet to emerge. An accompanying CD contains all the best Mariner 10 images, including the data for each image, photomosaics and maps.

Robert Strom and Anne Sprague present, for the first time, a brand new treatment of the study and exploration of Mercury through the Mariner and then Messenger missions that will stir the imagination of readers and break new ground in the scientific frontier of our understanding of the planet.

Provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive discussion of Mercury

Covers all aspects of the planet’s exploration by the Mariner 10 and future missions, including Messenger

The planned, accompanying CD ROM will contain all of the best individual Mariner 10 images, the data for each image, photomosaics, maps, some MESSENGER graphics, and public domain software for the PC and Mac.