Hollows are a landform on the planet Mercury, discovered during the '' MESSENGER'' mission that orbited the planet from 2011 to 2015. Hollows are typically clusters of rimless depressions with flat floors and haloes of bright (high

albedo Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that refl ...

) material surrounding them. Hollows are thought to form by loss of

volatiles Volatiles are the group of chemical elements and chemical compounds that can be readily vaporized. In contrast with volatiles, elements and compounds that are not readily vaporized are known as refractory substances. On planet Earth, the term ...

from the surface by sublimation, caused by the intense solar radiation on the airless planet. They are some of the youngest features on Mercury. Hollows were first observed as bright areas within craters imaged by the Mariner 10 spacecraft in 1974, but the images were not of sufficient resolution to discern any detail. These craters include Balzac,

Tyagaraja Thyagaraja (Telugu: త్యాగరాజ) (4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847), also known as Thyāgayya and in full as Kakarla Thyagabrahmam, was a composer and vocalist of Carnatic music, a form of Indian classical music. Tyagaraja and his ...

, Theophanes,

Zeami (c. 1363 – c. 1443), also called , was a Japanese aesthetician, actor, and playwright. His father, Kan'ami Kiyotsugu, introduced him to Noh theater performance at a young age, and found that he was a skilled actor. Kan'ami was also skil ...

, and

Hopper Hopper or hoppers may refer to: Places *Hopper, Illinois * Hopper, West Virginia * Hopper, a mountain and valley in the Hunza–Nagar District of Pakistan * Hopper (crater), a crater on Mercury People with the name * Hopper (surname) * Grace H ...

.Dzurisin, D., 1977. Mercurian bright patches: Evidence for physio-chemical alteration of surface material? ''Geophysical Research Letters'', 4, 383-386, doi:10.1029/GL004i010p00383 The MESSENGER spacecraft imaged the rest of the planet, much of it at higher resolution and in color, leading to the discovery of hollows and clues about their formation and nature. Other craters where hollows are present include

Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

, Xiao Zhao, Seuss, Wergeland, Raditladi,

Sholem Aleichem ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Pereiaslav, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = New York City, U.S. , occupation = Writer , nationality = , period = , genre = Novels, sh ...

Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucas ...

, Darío, and Scarlatti. Kertész,

Sander A sander is a power tool used to smooth surfaces by abrasion with sandpaper. Sanders have a means to attach the sandpaper and a mechanism to move it rapidly contained within a housing with means to hand-hold it or fix it to a workbench. Woodw ...

, Nāwahī, and Balanchine are craters with hollows within the

Caloris basin Caloris Planitia is a plain within a large impact basin on Mercury, informally named Caloris, about in diameter. It is one of the largest impact basins in the Solar System. "Calor" is Latin for "heat" and the basin is so-named because the Su ...

. There are many other examples, and some hollows occur on the plains between craters (see

Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...

crater).

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File:Mariner 10 image 0000214.png, Mariner 10 image with

at bottom and Balzac in upper right. File:Zeami crater hollows EN1052296413M.jpg, Hollows in

crater. Image width is about 23.2 km. File:Hollows in Raditladi 250.png, Hollows in Raditladi crater File:Warhol crater EN1035068908M.jpg, Abundant hollows on the floor of

crater File:Hopper crater EN1066258636M.jpg, The hollows in the floor of Hopper are as bright as

Kuiper Kuiper is a Dutch occupational surname meaning cooper. Common spelling variants include Kuyper, Kuipers, Kuijper, Kuijpers, Kuypers, and De Kuyper. Notable people with the name include: Kuiper *Adrian Kuiper (born 1959), South African cricket ...

crater File:De Graft crater MESSENGER mosaic.png, The floor of De Graft is covered with hollows File:Scarlatti crater hollows EN1051805374M.jpg, Detail of hollows in Scarlatti crater. Image width is about 3 km. File:Hollows EN1051631967M.map 2016.05.19.png, Very high-resolution image of hollows in

crater File:Mansur crater hollows EN1052702086M.jpg,

Mansur Mansour ( ar, منصور, Manṣūr); also spelled Mounsor, Monsur (Bengali), Mansoor, Manser, Mansur, Mansyur (Indonesian) or Mensur (Turkish), is a male Arabic name that means "He who is victorious", from the Arabic root '' naṣr'' (نصر), m ...

crater has hollows. Mansur has the type morphology of a Mansurian crater. File:Pasch crater hollows EN0215894066M.jpg, Hollows are present on and around the central peak complex of Pasch crater File:Eminescu EN1025911602M.map.jpg, Hollows surround the central peak complex of

Eminescu Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active memb ...

crater

External links

*
What are Mercury's hollows?
Emily Lakdawalla, The Planetary Society. February 18, 2014.

References

{{Mercury (planet) Surface features of Mercury