Abedin Crater Wall

The beautiful Abedin crater is featured in today's image. The crater's sunlit wall meets the crater floor, which occupies the left side of the scene. The floor is largely covered with rock that was melted by the Abdedin impact, ponded on the crater floor, and has now solidified, cracking as it cooled.

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

Date acquired: September 23, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 22252071
Image ID: 4875876
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 62.28°
Center Longitude: 352.0° E
Resolution: 16 meters/pixel
Scale: Abedin crater is 116 km (72 miles) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 83.6°
Emission Angle: 22.1°
Phase Angle: 105.8°

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

Graben in Abedin Crater

In this image, a portion of the 116 km- (73 mile-) diameter Abedin Crater is visible. The floor of the crater is generally smooth, and hosts many small troughs that are interpreted to be graben. Graben form as the result of extensional (i.e. pull-apart) stresses, which in this case may have resulted from the cooling and solidification of either impact melt or volcanic fill inside Abedin, similar to that seen in other basins across Mercury.

Date acquired: January 27, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 236192195
Image ID: 1320489
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 62.63°
Center Longitude: 348.5° E
Resolution: 21 meters/pixel
Scale: This image is 37 km (23 miles) wide from left corner to right corner
Incidence Angle: 80.6°
Emission Angle: 46.4°
Phase Angle: 127.1°

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