Since Mariner 10's fly bys of the planet Mercury in 1974 and 1975, astronomers have been trying to explain the surface features they saw. The MESSENGER spacecraft seems to have solved the mystery.
Last January, as reported in this blog, MESSENGER made its first of three fly bys of Mercury and delivered the best images of the planet's surface yet. The pictures showed strong evidence of volcanism-- clear indications of lava flows, what looks like a large shield volcano, and geologic fault zones.
MESSENGER will fly by Mercury again in Seprember, and a third time in October, 2009, before going into orbit around the planet in 2011 for a year-long mapping mission. At the end of that mission, scientists should have a much better grasp of the mystery of Mercury.
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