Topographical Map of Mercury's Northern Polar Region

This view of the topography of Mercury's north polar region complements yesterday's image of the day (PIA16950). Both were used during The Challenge of Discovery Educator Workshop, which was held last weekend. Workshop participants learned about MESSENGER's recent evidence for water ice near Mercury's poles through an activity that explored different datasets of Mercury's north polar region. Those activity materials can be viewed and download from this workshop website. In this view, MLA tracks across the surface are colored by the height of the surface relative to a reference sphere with a radius of 2440 kilometers.

Instrument: Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA)
Center Latitude: 90° N
Map Projection: Polar stereographic projection, extending southward to 65° N, with 0° longitude at the bottom
Scale: The diameter of this polar map projection covers 2,130 kilometers (1320 miles)

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