Date acquired: May 10, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 213501587
Image ID: 235044
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 25.59°
Center Longitude: 166.7° E
Resolution: 88 meters/pixel
Scale: Atget is 100 km (62 miles) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 69.4°
Emission Angle: 60.1°
Phase Angle: 129.1°
Of Interest: At a diameter of 100 km, the crater
Atget is one of the largest craters within the
Caloris basin. This targeted NAC observation provides our first high-resolution view of Atget's low-reflectance floor and ejecta, which were likely excavated from beneath the surficial plains when Atget formed. Check out Atget in this
enhanced color view of Caloris. It's the dark blue crater just south of Caloris's center.
This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions much higher than the 250-meter/pixel (820 feet/pixel) morphology base map or the 1-kilometer/pixel (0.6 miles/pixel) color base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution during MESSENGER's one-year mission, but several areas of high scientific interest are generally imaged in this mode each week.
The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's
seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. Visit the
Why Mercury? section of this website to learn more about the key science questions that the MESSENGER mission is addressing. During the one-year primary mission, MDIS is scheduled to acquire more than 75,000 images in support of MESSENGER's science goals.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
For information regarding the use of MESSENGER images, see the image use policy.