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Though Mercury is not known for having an especially colorful surface, some regions show a strong local contrast in color. Like other craters in Caloris, the interior and ejecta of Atget are darker and bluer than the typical brown volcanic plains. These craters help scientists to get a look at the three-dimensional compositional variations with the Caloris basin, and provide a way to judge the thickness of the volcanic plains (over 2 km here!). North is up in this image.
Date acquired: December 09, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 263555174, 263555178, 263555194
Image ID: 3108404, 3108405, 3108409
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filters: 9, 7, and 6 (996, 748, and 433 nanometers) in red, green, and blue
Center Latitude: 25.92°
Center Longitude: 166.2° E
Resolution: 224 meters/pixel
Scale: Atget is 100 km (62 mi.) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 25.9°
Emission Angle: 52.6°
Phase Angle: 78.5°
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
This image is a portion of the MDIS global mosaic basemap that was acquired during MESSENGER's first year in orbit. Caloris Basin, the largest young impact crater on Mercury, dominates the scene. With an east-west diameter of 1,640 km, Caloris hosts a wide variety of tectonic features, including graben, ridges, and Pantheon Fossae. MESSENGER team members are in the process of mapping the tectonic features within the Caloris basin and deciphering their complicated relationships.
MESSENGER scientists are interested in the tectonic features of Caloris as the basin shows widespread evidence of both extension and compression, an uncommon tectonic combination on Mercury. Since different processes produce extensional and contractional landforms, the Caloris basin has clearly had a complex and detailed geological history. Understanding how these structures developed will yield an insight into tectonism in Mercury's largest basin, and large impact craters in general.
Date Created: February 10, 2012
Instrument: Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Latitude Range: 12° N to 52° N
Longitude Range: 139° E to 187° E
Resolution: 1720 meters/pixel
Scale: The large crater at center right (Atget crater) is 100 km (63 mi.) in diameter
Projection: Azimuthal equidistant
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
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