Ghost Crater Near Suisei Planitia

This image features a ghost crater ~55 km (34 mi.) in diameter near its center. The crater was likely flooded by the lava that formed the Suisei Planitia. The crater rim and central peaks can still be seen, despite their burial, and the area was showered by secondary craters from a subsequent impact event.

This image was acquired as part of MDIS's high-incidence-angle base map. The high-incidence-angle base map complements the surface morphology base map of MESSENGER's primary mission that was acquired under generally more moderate incidence angles. High incidence angles, achieved when the Sun is near the horizon, result in long shadows that accentuate the small-scale topography of geologic features. The high-incidence-angle base map was acquired with an average resolution of 200 meters/pixel.

Date acquired: December 09, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 28935167
Image ID: 5350993
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 63.17°
Center Longitude: 219.7° E
Resolution: 157 meters/pixel
Scale: The ghost crater near the center of the image is approximately 55 km (34 mi.) in diameter.
Incidence Angle: 89.6°
Emission Angle: 52.4°
Phase Angle: 142.0°

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

Monteverdi Crater

The large crater seen here, located in Mercury's northern plains, exhibits signs of extensive flooding by lava. Similar to ghost craters that have been completely covered by volcanic flows, much of Monteverde's northern rim and interior have been flooded and filled in by lava. Only the remains of Monteverdi's southern rim jut above the relatively flat interior of the crater. This crater was named after the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), whose music marks the transition from the Renaissance style of music to the Baroque style.

This image was acquired as part of MDIS's minimum-phase-angle color campaign. Near the north polar region, the incidence angle (measured from the vertical) is always fairly high because the Sun is low on the horizon. The minimum-phase-angle color campaign acquires images under conditions that minimize the shadows in an image by viewing the surface as nearly as possible from the same direction as the Sun's illumination, which minimizes the phase angle. Images are acquired through five of the WAC's narrow-band color filters, for regions north of 60° N, at an average resolution of 500 meters/pixel. The minimum-phase-angle color campaign began in March 2013.

Date acquired: April 18, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 8598082, 8598073, 8598079
Image ID: 3905084, 3905081, 3905083
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: 63.54°
Center Longitude: 275.7° E
Resolution: 320 meters/pixel
Scale: Monteverdi is 133 km in diameter (83 miles).
Incidence Angle: 76.4°
Emission Angle: 48.3°
Phase Angle: 28.0°

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

Impact Craters and Ghost Craters in the Northern Plains

The very smooth region shown in this image is a part of Mercury's vast northern plains. These smooth plains are thought to have originated as volcanic outflows, in a similar manner to those within the Caloris basin. If you look closely, you can see several impact craters that were buried beneath the lava. These craters are known as "ghost craters" because only faint outlines of their rims remain.

This image was acquired as part of MDIS's high-resolution 3-color imaging campaign. The map produced from this campaign complements the 8-color base map (at an average resolution of 1 km/pixel) acquired during MESSENGER's primary mission by imaging Mercury's surface in a subset of the color filters at the highest resolution possible. The three narrow-band color filters are centered at wavelengths of 430 nm, 750 nm, and 1000 nm, and image resolutions generally range from 100 to 400 meters/pixel in the northern hemisphere.

Date acquired: September 03, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 255173296, 255173291, 255173293
Image ID: 2512514, 2512512, 2512513
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: 51.83°
Center Longitude: 46.39° E
Resolution: 279 meters/pixel
Scale: 188 km (117 mi)
Incidence Angle: 65.2°
Emission Angle: 0.2°
Phase Angle: 65.4°

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

Ghost Crater Amid Ridges

The northern plains on Mercury have lower elevation than surrounding regions. This view of the northern plains includes many wrinkle ridges, a result of tectonic deformation. The ridges outline the rim of a ghost crater, formed when lava covered the crater and differential sagging took place over the rim. The ghost rim is joined by four other prominent ridges.

Date acquired: February 13, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 3038383, 3038375, 3038379
Image ID: 3509798, 3509796, 3509797
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: 69.58°
Center Longitude: 284.1° E
Resolution: 91 meters/pixel
Scale: The ghost crater is 21 km (13 miles) in diameter.
Incidence Angle: 84.9°
Emission Angle: 0.1°
Phase Angle: 85.0°

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

Monteverdi Crater

The northern plains of Mercury are home to many volcanically flooded craters such as Monteverdi, which occupies part of the lower edge of this image. The plains have abundant wrinkle ridges and fresh craters.

This image was acquired as part of MDIS's minimum-phase-angle color campaign. Near the north polar region, the incidence angle (measured from the vertical) is always fairly high because the Sun is low on the horizon. The minimum-phase-angle color campaign acquires images under conditions that minimize the shadows in an image by viewing the surface as nearly as possible from the same direction as the Sun's illumination, which minimizes the phase angle. Images are acquired through five of the WAC's narrow-band color filters, for regions north of 60° N, at an average resolution of 500 meters/pixel. The minimum-phase-angle color campaign began in March 2013.

Date acquired: April 18, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 8598032, 8598023, 8598029
Image ID: 3905074, 3905071, 3905073
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: 66.83°
Center Longitude: 276.7° E
Resolution: 312 meters/pixel
Scale: The image is about 240 km across (149 miles).
Incidence Angle: 78.3°
Emission Angle: 50.3°
Phase Angle: 28.0°

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

Impact Craters and a Scarp

Within the yellow box, three unnamed craters are stacked one upon another. The rim of the largest of the three is partially obscured, and the crater floor appears filled in, likely due to flooding by volcanism. Superposed on this crater is another younger crater, which has also been impacted by an even younger crater. To the north of the craters, a long scarp (yellow arrows) cuts across the region.

Date acquired: March 30, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 209960906
Image ID: 67407
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -63.00°
Center Longitude: 5.11° E
Resolution: 387 meters/pixel
Scale: The yellow box is ~60.5 km (37.6 mi) wide.
Incidence Angle: 63.5°
Emission Angle: 1.9°
Phase Angle: 61.8°

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

Faulkner Crater

Relatively young smooth plains fill and partially bury Faulkner crater, leaving only the northern three-quarters of its degraded rim visible. These smooth plains, which have relatively few superposed craters and appear tan in this image, were likely emplaced as volcanic flows that breached Faulkner's southern rim, leaving only the highest-standing terrain intact.

Date acquired: January 19, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 878881, 878901, 878885
Image ID: 3356193, 3356198, 3356194
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: 8.61°
Center Longitude: 77.37° E
Resolution: 299 meters/pixel
Scale: Faulkner crater is approximately 168 km (104 mi.) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 36.5°
Emission Angle: 43.6°
Phase Angle: 78.1°
North is up in this image.

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

Tectonic Complexity in Mercury's Impact Features

Mercury's surface is covered with impact craters, many of which have been flooded by lavas. A subset of flooded impact features host tectonic structures -- graben (shown in red in the figure above) and ridges and scarps (blue) -- that formed during or after volcanic infilling. Such impact features range from so-called "ghost craters" through medium-sized basins such as Mozart, to the largest basins on Mercury, including Rembrandt and the mighty Caloris. Mapping these structures, and so characterizing their nature and spatial and temporal distributions, helps scientists understand the processes responsible for the tectonic complexity within volcanically infilled craters and basins on Mercury.

Date released: February 1, 2013
Center Latitude: (a) 60.3°, (b) 7.8°, (c) -33.5°, (d) 30°
Center Longitude: (a) 36.7° E, (b) 169.6° E, (c) 88°E, (d) 161°E
Projection: Orthographic

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

Mercury, Enhanced (2)

This colorful view of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER's primary mission. These colors are not what Mercury would look like to the human eye, but rather the colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up Mercury's surface.

Young crater rays, extending radially from fresh impact craters, appear light blue or white. Medium- and dark-blue areas are a geologic unit of Mercury's crust known as the "low-reflectance material", thought to be rich in a dark, opaque mineral. Tan areas are plains formed by eruption of highly fluid lavas. The crater in the upper right whose rays stretch across the planet is Hokusai.

To see the other side of the planet view this image.

To watch a movie of this colorful view of Mercury as a spinning globe click here or visit the mission's Movie Page.

Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 0°
Center Longitude: 320° E
Scale: Mercury's diameter is 4880 kilometers (3030 miles)
Map Projection: orthographic

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

Mercury, Enhanced (1)

This colorful view of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER's primary mission. These colors are not what Mercury would look like to the human eye, but rather the colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up Mercury's surface.

Young crater rays, extending radially from fresh impact craters, appear light blue or white. Medium- and dark-blue areas are a geologic unit of Mercury's crust known as the "low-reflectance material", thought to be rich in a dark, opaque mineral. Tan areas are plains formed by eruption of highly fluid lavas. The giant Caloris basin is the large circular tan feature located just to the upper right of center of the image.

To see the other side of the planet view this image.

To watch a movie of this colorful view of Mercury as a spinning globe click here or visit the mission's Movie Page.

Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 0°
Center Longitude: 140° E
Scale: Mercury's diameter is 4880 kilometers (3030 miles)
Map Projection: orthographic

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

Mercury Global Map

A global color map of Mercury's surface has been created by mosaicking thousands of sets of images obtained by the MESSENGER Wide Angle Camera (WAC). The colors shown here are related to variations in the spectral reflectance across the planet. This view captures both compositional differences and differences in how long materials have been exposed at Mercury's surface. Young crater rays, arrayed radially around fresh impact craters, appear light blue or white. Medium- and dark-blue areas are a geologic unit of Mercury's crust known as the "low-reflectance material," thought to be rich in a dark, opaque mineral. Tan areas are plains formed by eruption of highly fluid lavas. The large circular area near the top center is the Caloris impact basin, whose interior is filled with smooth, somewhat younger volcanic plains. Small orangish spots are materials deposited by explosive volcanic eruptions.

The color base map shown here consists of MDIS images taken through eight different color filters. It is part of a global color map that covers more than 99% of Mercury's surface with an average resolution of about 1 kilometer per pixel.

Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS). This is an enhanced-color presentation created from a statistical combination of images taken through eight of the WAC filters.

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

Note: Available on the original NASA webpage are two different size maps available for download: a smaller 6.5 MB video and a larger 23 MB video.

Mendelssohn Impact Basin Rim

This image shows a southern portion of the Mendelssohn impact basin. The smooth plains in the top (north) half of the image contrast sharply with the rugged, heavily cratered geological unit that forms the basin rim. The smooth plains were formed by eruption of highly fluid lavas that covered the basin floor. The Sun was low on the horizon when the image was captured, and the resulting shadows reveal the presence of ridges in the plains that mark the rims of impact craters buried by the lavas.

Date acquired: December 05, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 231567383
Image ID: 1097256
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 67.16°
Center Longitude: 99.57° E
Resolution: 95 meters/pixel
Scale: The scene is about 124 km (77 mi.) across.
Incidence Angle: 86.3°
Emission Angle: 37.5°
Phase Angle: 123.9°

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

Munch Crater

This image is a portion of the MDIS global mosaic basemap that was acquired during MESSENGER's first year in orbit. The scene shows a dramatic close-up of Munch crater, named for the Norwegian impressionist painter, printmaker, and draftsman Edvard Munch (1863-1944). On Wednesday, May 2nd 2012, one of four versions of Munch's famous 1895 pastel The Scream sold at auction for $119.9 million, becoming one of the most expensive pieces of artwork in the world.

Munch crater is situated within the Caloris basin, the youngest large impact basin on Mercury. The floor of Caloris has been flooded with volcanic flows. The ejecta blanket surrounding Munch contains dark material that originated at depth and was excavated by the Munch-forming impact. This dark material may correspond to rock types -- termed lithologies -- that are mineralogically distinct from those we see on the surface.

Date Created: February 10, 2012
Instrument: Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Latitude Range: 39.2° N to 42.1° N
Longitude Range: 150.6° E to 155.3° E
Resolution: 140 meters/pixel
Scale: Munch crater is 58 km (36 mi.) in diameter
Projection: Azimuthal equidistant

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

Lava Channels Near Kofi Crater

This image is a portion of the MDIS global mosaic basemap that was acquired during MESSENGER's first year in orbit. Of particular note is the flat-floored, southeast-trending valley in the center of the image, which starts near several depressions to the top left of the image, and connects with the Kofi crater (center right).

This valley is interpreted by MESSENGER team scientists as a broad lava channel, formed by the mechanical and thermal erosion of Mercury's surface by hot, low-viscosity, quickly-flowing lavas. The pits to the top left may be source vents for the lava flows that formed the channel; these flows then filled the Kofi crater at the channel's other end. Another lava channel, with a similar southeast trend, lies at the top right of the image, and there is a total of five broad channels in this region.

Determining how these channels formed, how rapidly they shaped the landscape, and how they relate to other volcanic features on Mercury -- such as expansive smooth plains nearby -- is important in understanding the role of volcanism on Mercury. Moreover, similar broad channels do not appear to exist elsewhere on Mercury, making this region a particularly interesting locale.

Date Created: February 10, 2012
Instrument: Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Latitude Range: 54.3° N to 61.3° N
Longitude Range: 109.4° E to 121.6° E
Resolution: 146 meters/pixel
Scale: Kofi, the large impact crater at center right, is approximately 135 km (84 mi.) in diameter
Projection: Azimuthal equidistant

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