Nobody?s ever seen Mercury in such detail, or color. The first images of the planet in 30 years provide rich close-ups of ridges, cliffs and compound crater formations, all in high-resolution color.

Mercury doesn't give up its secrets easily. The smallest planet in our solar system is also one of the most extreme—a sun-scorched, metal-rich world with a puzzling magnetic field and lavas unlike ...

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences, ...