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Today's image is located on the western edge of the Rembrandt basin. A scarp cuts right through a pair of older impact craters, leaving them deformed. This image is an anaglyph, which creates a 3D effect when viewed through a pair of red-cyan glass. If you've found a pair of glasses, check out these other 3D views created with MESSENGER images.
This image was acquired as a targeted set of stereo images. Targeted stereo observations are acquired at resolutions much higher than that of the 200-meter/pixel stereo base map. These targets acquired with the NAC enable the detailed topography of Mercury's surface to be determined for a local area of interest.
Date acquired: August 13, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 18733660, 18734492
Image ID: 4625953, 4625956
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -37.6°
Center Longitude: 79.15° E
Resolution: 100 meters/pixel
Scale: This image is roughly 90 kilometers across (56 miles)
Incidence Angle: 81.0°, 81.0°
Emission Angle: 0.3°, 19.9°
Phase Angle: 81.2°, 81.9°
Orientation: North is to the right to enhance the 3D effect.
Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Finding evidence for water ice on the planet closest to the Sun was an exciting discovery, but there is still more to learn about Mercury's icy deposits. Regions of permanent shadow seem to be a requirement for water ice to reside on the Solar System's innermost planet, so the large majority of Mercury's water ice deposits are located within impact craters at high latitudes. The two craters shown here, Egonu and Monk, both appear to have areas of permanent shadow and radar-bright deposits (shown in yellow) that are associated with water ice. However these craters are located a fair distance from Mercury's pole, all the way down at 66° latitude! How long can ice stay in these craters? That is just one of the interesting questions about Mercury's water ice deposits still being investigated.
This image was acquired as part of MDIS's high-resolution surface morphology base map. The surface morphology base map covers more than 99% of Mercury's surface with an average resolution of 200 meters/pixel. Images acquired for the surface morphology base map typically are obtained at off-vertical Sun angles (i.e., high incidence angles) and have visible shadows so as to reveal clearly the topographic form of geologic features.
Date acquired: July 20, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 219648898
Image ID: 528063
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 67.29°
Center Longitude: 63.51° E
Resolution: 133 meters/pixel
Scale: Egonu has a diameter of 25 km (16 miles); Monk has a diameter of 13 km (8 miles)
Incidence Angle: 74.5°
Emission Angle: 0.2°
Phase Angle: 74.5°
Arecibo Radar Image: Shown in yellow, from Harmon et al., Icarus, 211, 37-50 (2011)
Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Ever since MESSENGER entered orbit about Mercury in 2011, the dark impact melt flow of Waters crater has been a feature of interest. Targeted color imaging showed the distinctive blue color of the impact melt flow, inspiring the crater to be named for blues legend Muddy Waters in 2012. In 2013, this high-resolution image was acquired, revealing stunning new details of the impact melt flow beyond those visible previously.
This image was acquired as a targeted set of stereo images. Targeted stereo observations are acquired at resolutions much higher than that of the 200-meter/pixel stereo base map. These targets acquired with the NAC enable the detailed topography of Mercury's surface to be determined for a local area of interest.
Date acquired: September 16, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 21673915
Image ID: 4834878
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -9.00°
Center Longitude: 254.7° E
Resolution: 56 meters/pixel
Scale: Waters crater is 15 kilometers (9 miles) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 44.0°
Emission Angle: 44.8°
Phase Angle: 85.5°
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Today's image is an anaglyph, which means if you have a pair of red-cyan glasses, you can see the image in 3D. While this peak, which is slightly over a kilometer tall, is located within a circular depression, it is much larger relative to the size of the depression than other central peaks that formed during impact cratering events on Mercury. Additionally, the feature has a distinctive red color signature, associated with sites of explosive volcanic eruptions on Mercury. Peaks such as this one are rare on Mercury, but there is a similar one nearby that also shares the same red color characteristics.
This image was acquired as a targeted set of stereo images. Targeted stereo observations are acquired at resolutions much higher than that of the 200-meter/pixel stereo base map. These targets acquired with the NAC enable the detailed topography of Mercury's surface to be determined for a local area of interest.
Date acquired: November 14, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 26772351, 26772627
Image ID: 5197359, 5197360
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -8.50°
Center Longitude: 224.4° E
Resolution: 50 meters/pixel
Scale: This image is roughly 45 km (28 miles) across
Incidence Angle: 44.7°, 44.6°
Emission Angle: 14.2°, 24.6°
Phase Angle: 59.0°, 62.2°
Orientation: North is to the right, to enhance the 3D effect.
Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
The peak-ring basin Scarlatti is seen at the center of this image. While Scarlatti has a typical peak ring in many respects, in the northeast section it transitions to a large (approximately 30 km) pit surrounded by high-reflectance material. This pit may be the site of past explosive volcanic activity.
This image was acquired as a targeted 11-color image set. Acquiring 11-color targets is a new campaign that began in March 2013 and that utilizes all of the WAC's 11 narrow-band color filters. Because of the large data volume involved, only features of special scientific interest are targeted for imaging in all 11 colors.
Date acquired: March 30, 2014
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 38528557, 38528553, 38528551
Image ID: 6032934, 6032932, 6032931
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: 40.7°
Center Longitude: 258.9° E
Scale: Scarlatti basin is 132 km (82 miles) in diameter
Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
A large (180-km diameter) crater occupies the scene, but it has been almost completely buried by the volcanic plains that make up the northern smooth plains. The rim of the buried crater, especially in the southeast, has helped to localize compressional deformation, leading to a wrinkle-ridge ring. The center is criss-crossed by extensional graben.
These images were acquired as part of MDIS's high-incidence-angle base map. The high-incidence-angle base map complements the surface morphology base map of MESSENGER's primary mission that was acquired under generally more moderate incidence angles. High incidence angles, achieved when the Sun is near the horizon, result in long shadows that accentuate the small-scale topography of geologic features. The high-incidence-angle base map was acquired with an average resolution of 200 meters/pixel.
Date acquired: March 09, 2014
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 36713179, 36713230
Image ID: 5903920, 5903921
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 64.4°
Center Longitude: 23.8° E
Resolution: 258 meters/pixel
Scale: The buried basin is approximately 180 km (112 miles) across
Incidence Angle: 86.2°
Emission Angle: 51.1°
Phase Angle: 137.3°
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Viewing a section of the southern crater in this pair, here we see the jumbled and cracked material on the crater's floor and smooth regions buried by impact melt. Little rock-bergs, tens to hundreds of meters across, dot the floor and are surrounded by a frozen sea of once-molten rock. The Sun is shining from the right.
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: March 10, 2014
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 36770146
Image ID: 5908043
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 64.86°
Center Longitude: 255.3° E
Resolution: 12 meters/pixel
Scale: This scene is approximately 6 km (4 miles) across
Incidence Angle: 73.0°
Emission Angle: 5.8°
Phase Angle: 78.9°
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Most meteorites are pieces of asteroids. About 130 meteorites have been linked to an origin on the planet Mars, and nearly 200 meteorites originated on the Moon. No meteorite has been convincingly shown to have come from Mercury. Impact cratering events on Mercury may blast material off the surface, but it is much more difficult for such material to move into an orbit that could intersect the orbit of Earth, compared with material derived from the Moon or Mars. In 1992, Stan Love and Klaus Keil published a study describing the likely characteristics of a Mercurian meteorite. A recent re-look at the topic of meteorites from Mercury, by Will Vaughan and Jim Head, pointed out that the dynamics of ejection are such that the most likely locations for source craters on Mercury are in regions centered on 90° and 270° E longitude.
Fonteyn crater, shown in today's gallery image, is a fresh 29-km diameter impact structure centered at about 33° N and 95° E, within the probable zone noted by Vaughan and Head. Fonteyn has a somewhat asymmetrical pattern of bright rays, suggesting that it formed in an oblique impact, which may favor ejection of material at speeds greater than escape velocity. Could the Fonteyn impact have launched material that has fallen on Earth, or is on its way?
This mosaic is a portion of MDIS's high-resolution surface morphology base map. The surface morphology base map covers more than 99% of Mercury's surface with an average resolution of 200 meters/pixel. Images acquired for the surface morphology base map typically are obtained at off-vertical Sun angles (i.e., high incidence angles) and have visible shadows so as to reveal clearly the topographic form of geologic features.
Image: This is a portion of the MDIS monochrome base map mosaic.
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Scale: The scene is about 730 km (450 mi.) wide.
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Presented here is a fine view of the 75-km diameter crater Rimbaud. Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet who lived from 1854 to 1891. He had a stormy relationship with Paul Verlaine, a symbolist poet. In Brussels in 1873, Verlaine shot Rimbaud, wounding him in the wrist. No crater named Verlaine exists on Mercury. A Verlaine crater on Mars was named for a town in France. Crossing the eastern floor and wall of Rimbaud from south to north is a ray from crater Han Kan.
This image was acquired as a targeted set of stereo images. Targeted stereo observations are acquired at resolutions much higher than that of the 200-meter/pixel stereo base map. These targets acquired with the NAC enable the detailed topography of Mercury's surface to be determined for a local area of interest.
Date acquired: November 12, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 26596630
Image ID: 5185060
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -63.38°
Center Longitude: 211.7° E
Resolution: 147 meters/pixel
Scale: Rimbaud crater is about 75 km (46.5 mi.) across.
Incidence Angle: 67.4°
Emission Angle: 22.9°
Phase Angle: 71.8°
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
The name Kuniyoshi was recently adopted by the International Astronomical Union for the 26.5 km diameter crater near the center of today's image. Utagawa Kuniyoshi was a Japanese painter and printmaker (1798-1861). The subjects of his artwork included landscapes, Kabuki scenes, cats, samurai heroes, and the mythical and supernatural. Kuniyoshi crater is morphologically fresh, with a sharp rim, steep central peak, and impact melt ponds on the floor and near-rim ejecta. To the west of Kuniyoshi is a famous Mercurian lobate scarp, Discovery Rupes.
This image was acquired as part of MDIS's high-resolution surface morphology base map. The surface morphology base map covers more than 99% of Mercury's surface with an average resolution of 200 meters/pixel. Images acquired for the surface morphology base map typically are obtained at off-vertical Sun angles (i.e., high incidence angles) and have visible shadows so as to reveal clearly the topographic form of geologic features.
Date acquired: February 25, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 238701357
Image ID: 1441474
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -57.65°
Center Longitude: 321.8° E
Resolution: 173 meters/pixel
Scale: The edges of the image are about 170 km (105 mi.) long.
Incidence Angle: 65.0°
Emission Angle: 0.7°
Phase Angle: 65.2°
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
The crater shown here, Boëthius, is 115 km (71 miles) in diameter. We have seen Boëthius before, when it was imaged by MESSENGER during its second flyby. Named for the early sixth-century Roman philosopher, Boethius has been filled with smooth plains that may be volcanic in origin. After that infilling, compressional stresses that are pervasive across the entire planet's surface resulted in the formation of the prominent lobate scarp that runs from top to bottom in the image. Boethius is yet another example of the Law of Superposition, which helps scientists to determine the sequence of events at any given location on Mercury.
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: February 1, 2014
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 33546022
Image ID: 5678647
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 0.91° S
Center Longitude: 286.88° E
Resolution: 76 meters/pixel
Scale: The scene is 75 km (47 mi.) across
Incidence Angle: 72.8°
Emission Angle: 6.2°
Phase Angle: 66.6°
North is to the bottom in this image
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
In this dramatic image, Dominici crater takes center-stage. Dominici is 20 km (12 mi.) in diameter, and hosts a variety of landforms including a sharp crater rim, internal slumps, and abundant hollows. Dominici is also a rayed crater, which, together with its well-preserved rim, indicate that the crater is relatively young. This scene, taken from an oblique angle, gives us a good idea of what the surface of Mercury might look like from a spacecraft window as we zoom overhead!
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: January 30, 2014
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 33401837
Image ID: 5668405
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 1.1° N
Center Longitude: 323.5° E
Resolution: 79 meters/pixel
Scale: The crater in the image center is 20 km (about 12 mi.) across
Incidence Angle: 36.2°
Emission Angle: 41.8°
Phase Angle: 77.4°
North is to the bottom in this image
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Like Friday's image, today we see Mercury's surface at an image resolution we have rarely come close to before. In this scene, a portion of the rim of an unnamed crater 17 km (11 mi.) in diameter is visible, atop which sits a smaller, later crater (lower center). The prolonged record of impact cratering on Mercury is one of the planet's most visible traits, yet we continue to see the results of that process with ever higher-resolution images. And so, even at resolutions of 9 meters (~30 feet) per pixel, we observe small primary and secondary craters peppering the surface of the innermost planet.
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: March 1, 2014
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 35963392
Image ID: 5850686
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 55.89°
Center Longitude: 303.66° E
Resolution: 9 meters/pixel
Scale: The crater in the lower center of the image is approximately 1.8 km (1.1 mi.) across
Incidence Angle: 59.9°
Emission Angle: 27.4°
Phase Angle: 32.5°
North is to the right in this scene.
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
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