Southwestern Rim of Caloris Basin

This image shows an area of the southwestern rim of the Caloris impact basin. The small hills in the lower left are part of the rim units, and the smooth surface to the right is part of the smooth plains within the basin. The scene lies right on a color boundary between darker rim material and higher-reflectance plains. Small hollows are found on the top of the hills, and small lobate scarps cross the area. The famous kidney-shaped pyroclastic vent is just to the east (right), out of the scene.

This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions much higher than the 200-meter/pixel morphology base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution, but typically several areas of high scientific interest are imaged in this mode each week.

Date acquired: July 03, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 15137794
Image ID: 4370103
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 22.04°
Center Longitude: 143.6° E
Resolution: 42 meters/pixel
Scale: The scene is about 57 km (35 mi.) across
Incidence Angle: 68.7°
Emission Angle: 31.8°
Phase Angle: 100.1°
North is up in this image.

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