Date acquired: January 23, 2015
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 64352478
Image ID: 7849599
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 31.48°
Center Longitude: 81.89° E
Resolution: 6 meters/pixel
Scale: This scene is approximately 6.3 km (3.9 miles) from top to bottom
Incidence Angle: 82.6°
Emission Angle: 0.1°
Phase Angle: 82.7°

Of Interest: The exterior of this unnamed crater is in shadow, while the inner wall and terraces bask in the sunshine. Terraces form just after the crater has been excavated, when oversteepened slopes slump back down.

This image was acquired as part of the MDIS low-altitude imaging campaign. During MESSENGER's second extended mission, the spacecraft makes a progressively closer approach to Mercury's surface than at any previous point in the mission, enabling the acquisition of high-spatial-resolution data. For spacecraft altitudes below 350 kilometers, NAC images are acquired with pixel scales ranging from 20 meters to as little as 2 meters.

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.