Poe Crater

For as long as 70 years, a visitor to the original grave site of Edgar Allan Poe left a tribute in the form of roses and a bottle of cognac each January 19 (Poe's birthday). The "Poe Toaster" has not appeared since 2009, and it appears that the tradition has ended. Here we offer our own toast to the great American writer: a color view of Poe crater on Mercury. In this representation, Poe's raven-colored rim stands out from the tan volcanic plains that surround it. Tiny hollows speckle the dark rim like blue-white stars in the blackness of night. This sinfully scintillant planet/From the Hell of the planetary souls.

Date acquired: July 03, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 218204194, 218204190, 218204186
Image ID: 458399, 458398, 458397
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: 42.83°
Center Longitude: 158.9° E
Resolution: 213 meters/pixel
Scale: Poe crater is about 77 km (48 mi.) in diameter.
Incidence Angle: 42.8°
Emission Angle: 35.9°
Phase Angle: 78.7°

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