Slumping Impact Crater

This image shows impact craters of varying size and morphology. The crater with the visible central peak on the southern edge of the image displays spectacular wall slumps, which form when material on the steep walls of the crater collapses. This crater also has secondary craters and ejecta radiating from its center.

This image was acquired as part of MDIS's color base map. The color base map is composed of WAC images taken through eight different narrow-band color filters and will cover more than 90% of Mercury's surface with an average resolution of 1 kilometer/pixel (0.6 miles/pixel). The highest-quality color images are obtained for Mercury's surface when both the spacecraft and the Sun are overhead, so these images typically are taken with viewing conditions of low incidence and emission angles.

Date acquired: July 20, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 219691659
Image ID: 529967
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 82.08°
Center Longitude: 103.1° E
Resolution: 85 meters/pixel
Scale: Image is approximately 88 km (55 mi) across.
Incidence Angle: 82.1°
Emission Angle: 0.2°
Phase Angle: 82.1°

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