Chao Meng-Fu Crater

Because of the small axial tilt of Mercury's pole of rotation, several of the craters in this south polar image are shrouded in permanent shadow. Earth-based radar observations have found that these craters also host radar-bright material that is likely water ice. In the furthest southern portion of this image, the rim of the large crater Chao Meng-Fu rises from the darkness.

Date acquired: September 07, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 223925708
Image ID: 730957
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -86.25°
Center Longitude: 303.9° E
Resolution: 268 meters/pixel
Scale: The image is 385 kilometers (239 miles) from corner to corner.
Incidence Angle: 87.9°
Emission Angle: 7.1°
Phase Angle: 80.8°

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

Mercury South Polar Illumination Map

Shown here is an illumination map of Mercury's south polar region. The map is colored on the basis of the percentage of time that a given area is sunlit; areas appearing black in the map are regions of permanent shadow. This map was created by using 89 wide-angle camera (WAC) images of Mercury's south polar region acquired by the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) over one complete Mercury solar day (176 Earth days) which can be viewed in this movie. Radar-bright deposits, which may be water ice, collocate with regions of permanent shadow.

Scale: The large crater near Mercury's south pole, Chao Meng-Fu, has a diameter of 180 km
Map Information: This illumination map is shown in polar stereographic projection, extending northward to 73° S, and 0° longitude is at the top

Map credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/Byrne et al.

One Solar Day at Mercury's South Pole

This movie shows 89 WAC images of Mercury's south polar region acquired over one complete Mercury solar day (176 Earth days) in 2011. This dataset enabled the illumination conditions at Mercury's south polar region to be quantified.

Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Scale: The large crater near Mercury's south pole, Chao Meng-Fu, has a diameter of 180 km.
Map Information: The movie is shown in polar stereographic projection, extending northward to 73° S, and 0° longitude is at the top.

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