This image shows two of the most prominent rayedcraters on the surface of Mercury. In the top center is Kuiper, named for Dutch-Americanplanetary astronomer and Mariner 10 team member Gerard Kuiper (1905-1973). At the right edge is the 80-km diameter crater named for FrenchcomposerClaude Debussy (1862-1918). The impacts that formed these craters ejected target materials for great distances across the planet's surface, and the image shows areas where the two sets of rays intersect. Another group of rays, entering the image from the top right, were deposited by the impact that formed Hokusai crater, far to the north. Hokusai was a Japaneseartist who lived from 1760-1849.
Date acquired: October 06, 2008 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 131772995 Image ID: 6793 Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers) Center Latitude: -31.41° Center Longitude: 326.4° E Resolution: 2800 meters/pixel Scale: The distance between Kuiper and Debussy is about 1940 km (1200 miles)
This view shows several groups of similar-sized craters arranged roughly in lines. Crater chains are sometimes formed by volcanic eruptions, but the craters here were made by secondary impacts. The excavation of a large crater or basin can throw out blocks of material along radial trajectories. The blocks then sometimes strike the surface nearly in the same location, producing secondary crater chains. Finer ejecta may form the bright ribbons known as crater rays.
Date acquired: June 07, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 215937760 Image ID: 349758 Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers) Center Latitude: 35.48° Center Longitude: 123.4° E Resolution: 236 meters/pixel Scale: The edges of the image are about 120 km (75 mi.) long. Incidence Angle: 63.0° Emission Angle: 11.7° Phase Angle: 51.3°
Today's offering shows two views of the craterBerkel. The image on the left is a monochrome image obtained when the Sun was lower on the horizon than when the color image on the right was collected. As a result, the left image emphasizes the topography of the surface (due to the presence of shadowing), whereas the image on the right is dominated by inherent differences in reflectance and color. The impact that formed Berkel excavated dark subsurface material and deposited it around the crater's rim. The presence of this low reflectance material causes the floor of the crater to appear black in the color image.
The image on the left is part of MDIS's high-resolution surface morphology base map. The surface morphology base map covers more than 90% of Mercury's surface with an average resolution of 250 meters/pixel (0.16 miles/pixel or 820 feet/pixel). Images acquired for the surface morphology base map typically have off-vertical Sun angles (i.e., high incidence angles) and visible shadows so as to reveal clearly the topographic form of geologic features.
The image on the right image is 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 covers 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. The false-color presentation here has images taken through the 750-nm, 560-nm and 480-nm filters as red-green-blue.
Scale:Berkel crater is about 22 km (14 mi.) in diameter Location: Berkel is located at -13.75° latitude, 26.9° E longitude Instrument: Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Shown here is the first MESSENGER image from 2012! Though this image was acquired on January 1, it wasn't downlinked from the spacecraft until this week. The spacecraft has two solid-state recorders, which enable data to be stored on the spacecraft, and the mission uses a system of priorities to determine which data are downlinked. Often images are sent back to Earth within a few days of being acquired but occasionally longer times between image acquisition and downlink occur.
This image was acquired as part of MDIS's campaign to monitor the south polar region of Mercury. By imaging the polar region every four MESSENGERorbits as illumination conditions change, features that were in shadow on earlier orbits can be discerned and any permanently shadowed areas can be identified after repeated imaging over one solar day. During MESSENGER's one-year mission, MDIS's WAC is used to monitor the south polar region for the first Mercury solar day (176 Earth days), and MDIS's NAC is used for imaging the south polar region during the second Mercurysolar day.
Date acquired: January 1, 2012 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 0233869628 Image ID: 1207852 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: -83.30° Center Longitude: 41.44° E Resolution: 298 meters/pixel Scale: This image is approximately 300 kilometers (190 miles) across Incidence Angle: 91.6° Emission Angle: 8.7° Phase Angle: 99.0°
This beautiful, unnamed crater is found within the Calorisimpact basin, and formed partially atop another crater of similar size to its northwest. On the right-hand side of the image you can see the crater's central peak; at the upper left, you can see where the crater wall intersects what is left of the older crater's central peak.
Date acquired: December 24, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 233221689 Image ID: 1177142 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: 36.6° Center Longitude: 166.4° E Resolution: 29 meters/pixel Scale: Scene is approximately 30 km (19 miles) across Incidence Angle: 36.6° Emission Angle: 33.1° Phase Angle: 69.7°
Date acquired: December 25, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 233263747 Image ID: 1179175 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: 31.1° Center Longitude: 159.8° E Resolution: 40 meters/pixel Scale: The large impact crater is approximately 14 km (8 miles) in diameter Incidence Angle: 31.2° Emission Angle: 4.1° Phase Angle: 32.5°
Date acquired: July 28, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 220331898 Image ID: 560776 Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers) Center Latitude: 31.5° Center Longitude: 165.0° E Resolution: 115 meters/pixel Scale:Apollodorus crater is approximately 42 km (26 mi.) in diameter. Incidence Angle: 83.1° Emission Angle: 38.3° Phase Angle: 121.4°
Date acquired: April 29, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 212590628 Image ID: 192049 Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers) Center Latitude: 81.4° Center Longitude: 301.9° E Resolution: 163 meters/pixel Scale: The ghost crater containing many troughs is approximately 45 km (28 mi.) in diameter. Incidence Angle: 82.8° Emission Angle: 5.4° Phase Angle: 88.2°
Scarlatti is a peak-ring basin with a diameter of 132 kilometers. Just north of the inner peak ring on the basin's floor is a large oblong pit, shown here in the highest resolution ever obtained. The large pit may have formed as a volcanic collapse feature, and this high-resolution view shows many hollows located on the pit's wall. Members of the MESSENGER team are using images like this one to unravel the geologic relationship between Scarlatti's pit and these newly seen hollows.
Date acquired: December 08, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 231863738 Image ID: 1111610 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: 41.53° Center Longitude: 259.1° E Resolution: 29 meters/pixel Scale: This image is approximately 30 kilometers (19 miles) across Incidence Angle: 81.2° Emission Angle: 10.7° Phase Angle: 92.0°
The central peaks of Eminescu are revealed here at high resolution, showing off an impressive collection of hollows. Some of these hollows have coalesced into larger formations. North is down in this image.
Date acquired: December 05, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 231610992 Image ID: 1099314 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: 10.9° Center Longitude: 114.5° E Resolution: 33 meters/pixel Scale: This image is approximately 66 km (41 mi.) across Incidence Angle: 66.2° Emission Angle: 59.2° Phase Angle: 125.5°
Date acquired: June 07, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 215894570 Image ID: 347724 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: 22.5° Center Longitude: 146.1° E Resolution: 28 meters/pixel Scale: The depression is approximately 23 km (14 mi.) across its longest dimension. Incidence Angle: 39.6° Emission Angle: 45.5° Phase Angle: 78.3°
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