This color image of the equatorial region of Mercury shows several unnamed craters and part of the crater Chiang K'ui in the northwestern corner. An elongated crater with a central ridge is found in the lower middle part of the scene. Elongated impact craters form when an asteroid or comet strikes the planet at a low angle (relative to the horizontal). Right at the center of the image is a small bright crater with an asymmetrical ray system, which is also diagnostic of a low angle of impact.
This image was acquired as a targeted high-resolution 11-color image set. Acquiring 11-color targets is a new campaign that began in March 2013 and that utilizes all of the WAC's 11 narrow-band color filters. Because of the large data volume involved, only features of special scientific interest are targeted for imaging in all 11 colors.
Date acquired: April 16, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 8426122, 8426114, 8426110
Image ID: 3892837, 3892835, 3892834
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filters: 9, 7, 6 (996, 748, 433 nanometers) in red, green, and blue
Center Latitude: 12.43°
Center Longitude: 262.4° E
Resolution: 320 meters/pixel
Scale: The image is about 400 km across (248 miles).
Incidence Angle: 40.5°
Emission Angle: 31.2°
Phase Angle: 71.8°
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
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