Date acquired: January 30, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 236408235
Image ID: 1330758
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -42.90°
Center Longitude: 105.3° E
Resolution: 119 meters/pixel
Scale: Grainger crater is approximately 113 km (70 mi.) in diameter.
Incidence Angle: 65.3°
Emission Angle: 16.7°
Phase Angle: 81.7°

Of Interest: Grainger crater, seen at the bottom of this image, exhibits a tall central peak and interesting color features, including low-reflectance material and hollows. Grainger crater was named in 2012 for Australian-born composer, arranger, and pianist Percy Grainger (1882-1961), many of whose compositions are considered standards of the wind symphony/military band genre.

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.