Mercury

Last weekend I read in the Independent about a new colour map of the planet Mercury that has been developed by scientists working on NASA's Messenger probe. There was an article on the BBC website with a rather beautiful picture of it.

This reminded me that I hadn't yet blipped Mercury in the Science Garden at Derby's Alvaston Park, so I took this photo of it on my lunchtime walk today. It is a shame the designers of the Garden didn't have access to NASA's new image. I had walked past this countless times without realising it is supposed to represent Mercury.

My previous blips of the Science Garden have shown Venus, Earth and Mars.