Red Spot Volcanic Crater

At the center of today's image is a "red spot," an informal designation used by the MESSENGER team to refer to an area with overall high reflectance and higher than average reflectance at the longer-wavelength (red) end of the spectrum. Red spots are thought to be sites of explosive (pyroclastic) volcanic eruptions. Such deposits were analyzed in a 2011 paper. A close-up of the crater at the center of the red spot was presented in a previous Gallery image. The crater neat the left edge of the image with bright floor deposits (hollows) is Theophanes.

Date acquired: December 14, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 232328601, 232328621, 232328605
Image ID: 1134128, 1134133, 1134129
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: -3.73°
Center Longitude: 223.8° E
Resolution: 725 meters/pixel
Scale: The scene is about 750 km (465 mi.) wide.
Incidence Angle: 44.7°
Emission Angle: 0.3°
Phase Angle: 44.8°

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

Theophanes Crater

This image shows the crater Theophanes, which was originally imaged by Mariner 10. It is named after the Byzantine iconographer known as Theophanes the Greek. Though he was born in Constantinople, the capitol of the Byzantine Empire, around 1340 CE, Theophanes spent most of his life in Russia, where he moved in 1370 CE. It was in Russia that he gained notoriety as an icon painter. Some of his more prominent works include Our Lady of the Don and the Transfiguration of Christ. He is also known as the teacher and mentor of the great medieval Russian painter Andrei Rublev, the eponym of Rublev crater.

Date acquired: October 03, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 257735204
Image ID: 2694715
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -5.04°
Center Longitude: 217.2° E
Resolution: 74 meters/pixel
Scale: The crater Theophanes has diameter of ~46 km ( 29 mi.).
Incidence Angle: 69.3°
Emission Angle: 2.2°
Phase Angle: 71.6°

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