Hodgkins Crater in Color

We recently got a high-resolution look at Hodgkins crater. Today's featured image is a great example of how MDIS's two cameras complement each other: the NAC (narrow-angle camera) provides the high resolution and the WAC provides a lower resolution view in color. Usually the ejecta of fresh craters is relatively blue, but like Kuiper crater, Hodgkins continuous ejecta blanket is redder. In this case, it appears that Hodgkins has exposed a compositionally distinct material.

Date acquired: March 15, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 240290904, 240290900, 240290896
Image ID: 1519152, 1519151, 1519150
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: 28.60°
Center Longitude: 17.71° E
Resolution: 251 meters/pixel
Scale: Hodgkins crater (center) is approximately 18 km (11 miles) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 35.8°
Emission Angle: 12.6°
Phase Angle: 48.4°

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

Hodgkins Crater

This image of the crater Hodgkins provides a great look at the beautiful interior and ejecta blanket of a fresh, rayed impact crater. From a wider perspective you can see the asymmetric ejecta distribution indicative of an impact that struck at a low angle to the surface; up close you can see that Hodgkins also formed partially atop an older crater and has a small rayed crater on its ejecta blanket.

Date acquired: March 13, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 240165775
Image ID: 1513002
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 29.18°
Center Longitude: 18.08° E
Resolution: 34 meters/pixel
Scale: Hodgkins crater is approximately 18 km (11 miles) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 35.5°
Emission Angle: 47.5°
Phase Angle: 83.0°

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