Scarlatti Crater

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