Bartok Crater

Bartok, a large complex crater in Mercury's southern hemisphere, is located in the center of the frame. In this colored image, Bartok's central peak appears to be blue and is darker than the surrounding surface. This suggests that the central uplift is composed of material that has different properties than the surrounding terrain, providing clues to the geologic history of the region. To the southwest of Bartok, a young crater with stunning rays is also visible.

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: November 12, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 26540775, 26540771, 26540769
Image ID: 5180966, 5180964, 5180963
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: -29.48°
Center Longitude: 224.9° E
Resolution: 1350 meters/pixel
Scale: This image's central crater has a diameter of approximately 117 km (73 miles)
Incidence Angle: 51.4°
Emission Angle: 27.9°
Phase Angle: 79.0°

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Mercury Transit of the Sun, as Seen from Mars

This animated blink comparison shows five different versions of observations that NASA's Curiosity made about one hour apart while Mercury was passing in front of the sun on June 3, 2014. Two sunspots, each about the diameter of Earth, also appear in the images, moving much less during the hour than Mercury's movement.

This is the first observation of any planet's transit of the sun observed from any planet other than Earth. It is also the first observation of Mercury from Mars.

With precise information about when the transit would occur, the rover team planned this observation using the telephoto-lens (right-eye) camera of Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument. The camera has solar filters for routine observations of the sun used for assessing the dustiness of the atmosphere. Mercury appears as a faint darkening that moves across the face of the sun. It is about one-sixth the size of a right-Mastcam pixel at the interplanetary distance from which these images were taken, so it does it does not appear as a distinct shape, but its position follows Mercury's known path.

Each of the five versions of the image presented here blinks back and forth between two views recorded at different times during the transit. North is up. The version on the left is minimally enhanced, for a natural looking image of the sun with two sunspots barely visible. The second version has limb darkening removed, the edges masked. The third has enhanced contrast. The fourth has a line added to indicate the calculated path of Mercury during the transit. The fifth adds annotation to point out which spot is Mercury (in the cross hairs) and to identify two sunspots.

For a video presentation of these images, see http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/?id=1309.

Transits of the sun by Mercury and Venus, as seen from Earth, have significant history. Observations of Venus transits were used to measure the size of the solar system, and Mercury transits were used to measure the size of the sun.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Texas A&M

Note: For more information, see Mercury Passes in Front of the Sun, as Seen From Mars.

Impact Crater Above a Scarp

Today's image features several of Mercury's simple craters. The morphology of simple craters is characterized by the crater's distinct bowl shape and crisp rim. The largest simple crater in this view is positioned just above a scarp. Scarps are common topographic features on Mercury that form as one block of the planet's crust is thrusted forward over another block.

This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions much higher than the 200-meter/pixel morphology base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution, but typically several areas of high scientific interest are imaged in this mode each week.

Date acquired: June 24, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 14415278
Image ID: 4318782
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 19.56°
Center Longitude: 45.40° E
Resolution: 35 meters/pixel
Scale: The crater in the upper center of this image has a diameter of approximately 6.6 km (4.1 miles)
Incidence Angle: 61.4°
Emission Angle: 31.1°
Phase Angle: 92.2°

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Sander and Munch Craters

Today's image features a stunning view of two complex craters within the Caloris basin. The floor of Sander crater is covered with bright hollows, while Munch crater stands out due to its low-reflectance crater rim.

This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted color observation. Targeted color observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions higher than the 1-kilometer/pixel 8-color base map. During MESSENGER's one-year primary mission, hundreds of targeted color observations were obtained. During MESSENGER's extended mission, high-resolution targeted color observations are more rare, as the 3-color base map covered Mercury's northern hemisphere with the highest-resolution color images that are possible.

Date acquired: April 26, 2014
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 40804465, 40804485, 40804469
Image ID: 6194731, 6194736, 6194732
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: 39.98°
Center Longitude: 153.1° E
Resolution: 290 meters/pixel
Scale: Sander crater is about 51 km (31.7 miles) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 46.9°
Emission Angle: 50.5°
Phase Angle: 79.7°

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Smooth and Rough Terrain Near Mercury's North Pole

Today's image of the day features a striking boundary of smooth and rough terrain near Mercury's north pole. This rugged wall of mountains would create quite a staggering view for an adventurer (or a rover) after crossing the expansive northern plains.

This image was acquired as part of MDIS's minimum-phase-angle color campaign. Near the north polar region, the incidence angle (measured from the vertical) is always fairly high because the Sun is low on the horizon. The minimum-phase-angle color campaign acquires images under conditions that minimize the shadows in an image by viewing the surface as nearly as possible from the same direction as the Sun's illumination, which minimizes the phase angle. Images are acquired through five of the WAC's narrow-band color filters, for regions north of 60° N, at an average resolution of 500 meters/pixel. The minimum-phase-angle color campaign began in March 2013.

Date acquired: April 15, 2014
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 39881820, 39881827, 39881817
Image ID: 6129196, 6129198, 6129195
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: 81.78°
Center Longitude: 163.9° E
Resolution: 225 meters/pixel
Scale: The boundary of smooth and rough terrain is approximately 130 km (81 mi.) long in this image.
Incidence Angle: 82.8°
Emission Angle: 54.7°
Phase Angle: 28.0°

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Peppered Hills in the Northern Plains

Today's image features several rolling hills within the northern plains of Mercury. Though covered by smooth plains material, these hills are associated with the rim of an unnamed buried crater. At this high resolution, many small craters can be seen dotting the landscape, some as small as ~20-30 m (65-100 ft) in diameter.

This image was acquired as part of the MDIS low-altitude imaging campaign. During MESSENGER's second extended mission, the spacecraft makes a progressively closer approach to Mercury's surface than at any previous point in the mission, enabling the acquisition of high-spatial-resolution data. For spacecraft altitudes below 350 kilometers, NAC images are acquired with pixel scales ranging from 20 meters to as little as 2 meters.

Date acquired: April 04, 2014
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 38930993
Image ID: 6061617
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 81.67°
Center Longitude: 234.2° E
Resolution: 16 meters/pixel
Scale: This image is about 9 km (5.6 mi) across.
Incidence Angle: 81.9°
Emission Angle: 21.9°
Phase Angle: 82.3°

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington