Kertesz Crater

The hollows-covered floor of Kertesz, located near the center of this image, distinguishes it from the other craters in this enhanced-color scene. A 3-kilometer crater also features prominently in this image despite its small size, due to its extensive set of young, bright rays. Both of these features are located on the floor of the great Caloris basin, which is a host to a variety of interesting tectonic features, including the troughs visible on the east side of this image.

This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted color observation. Targeted color observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions higher than the 1-kilometer/pixel 8-color base map. During MESSENGER's one-year primary mission, hundreds of targeted color observations were obtained. During MESSENGER's extended mission, high-resolution targeted color observations are more rare, as the 3-color base map covered Mercury's northern hemisphere with the highest-resolution color images that are possible.

Date acquired: November 01, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 25622919, 25622939, 25622923
Image ID: 5115429, 5115434, 5115430
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: 27.16°
Center Longitude: 146.1° E
Resolution: 272 meters/pixel
Scale: Kertesz has a diameter of 32 kilometers (20 miles)
Incidence Angle: 42.4°
Emission Angle: 36.9°
Phase Angle: 78.2°

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