 Click on image to enlarge. | Nureyev CraterRelease Date: May 8, 2012 Topics: Crater Rays, |
Date acquired: May 03, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 212936624
Image ID: 208447
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 11.78°
Center Longitude: 187.0° E
Resolution: 76 meters/pixel
Scale: Nureyev crater is 16 km (10 miles) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 68.6°
Emission Angle: 38.5°
Phase Angle: 102.9°
Of Interest: The small crater at the center of this image is Nureyev, named for the soviet and british ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. Nureyev helped reshape male roles in ballet, and his most famous dance partnership was with Margot Fonteyn. Like Fontenyn crater, Nureyev is one of the most recent impacts on Mercury and its bright rays stretch far across the surface.
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 200-meter/pixel morphology base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution, but typically several areas of high scientific interest are 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, MESSENGER acquired 88,746 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is now in a yearlong extended mission, during which plans call for the acquisition of more than 80,000 additional images to support MESSENGER's science goals.
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 212936624
Image ID: 208447
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 11.78°
Center Longitude: 187.0° E
Resolution: 76 meters/pixel
Scale: Nureyev crater is 16 km (10 miles) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 68.6°
Emission Angle: 38.5°
Phase Angle: 102.9°
Of Interest: The small crater at the center of this image is Nureyev, named for the soviet and british ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. Nureyev helped reshape male roles in ballet, and his most famous dance partnership was with Margot Fonteyn. Like Fontenyn crater, Nureyev is one of the most recent impacts on Mercury and its bright rays stretch far across the surface.
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 200-meter/pixel morphology base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution, but typically several areas of high scientific interest are 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, MESSENGER acquired 88,746 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is now in a yearlong extended mission, during which plans call for the acquisition of more than 80,000 additional images to support 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.