Friday, May 3, 2013

Knobby Plains in Tir Planitia


The plains that surround the Caloris basin are geologically complex. Today's featured images highlights some of the kilometer-scale knobs that surround much of the basin, which are thought to be blocks of material ejected by the Caloris basin-forming event. This area, a region within Tir Planitia, has also been subjected to compressional stresses, which resulted in the formation of scarps that cut across the scene. Unraveling the complex sequence of events in this region, which includes deposition of ejecta, possible volcanic resurfacing, and tectonic deformation, will be aided by the high-resolution targeted images to be collected in MESSENGER's second extended mission.

Date acquired: April 05, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 7472448
Image ID: 3825184
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 4.31°
Center Longitude: 185.6° E
Resolution: 61 meters/pixel
Scale: This scene is approximately 80 km (50 mi.) across
Incidence Angle: 73.6°
Emission Angle: 40.8°
Phase Angle: 114.1°

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

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