Date acquired: October 12, 2014
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 55468134, 55468126, 55468130
Image ID: 7233114, 7233112, 7233113
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: 59.24°
Center Longitude: 159.4° E
Resolution: 103 meters/pixel
Scale: Navoi crater has a diameter of 69 kilometers (43 miles)
Incidence Angle: 62.5°
Emission Angle: 0.1°
Phase Angle: 62.5°

Of Interest: Navoi crater, located north of the large Caloris basin, shows signs of past volcanic activity. The orange tint in this image is similar to that associated with features formed by explosive volcanic events. The irregularly shaped depressions on Navoi's floor also resemble those associated with volcanic explosions, such as within Lermontov, Scarlatti, and Praxiteles.

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.

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. In the mission's more than three years of orbital operations, MESSENGER has acquired over 250,000 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is capable of continuing orbital operations until early 2015.

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.