Date acquired: April 20, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 211763025
Image ID: 153247
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 20.14°
Center Longitude: 241.9° E
Resolution: 156 meters/pixel
Scale: This image is about 80 km wide
Incidence Angle: 60.8°
Emission Angle: 14.9°
Phase Angle: 45.8°

Of Interest:This close-up view of the inner peak ring and main rim of Dürer basin (named for the German artist, mathematician and theorist Albrecht Dürer) was provided by MESSENGER's Narrow Angle Camera (NAC). Concentric ring structures such as these form during the impact that creates the basin; the number of rings and their characteristics depend on the size of the impact structure. An impact crater larger than about 200 km in diameter is generally called a "basin."

This image was acquired as part of MDIS's high-resolution surface morphology base map. The surface morphology base map will cover more than 90% of Mercury's surface with an average resolution of 250 meters/pixel (0.16 miles/pixel or 820 feet/pixel). Images acquired for the surface morphology base map typically have off-vertical Sun angles (i.e., high incidence angles) and visible shadows so as to reveal clearly the topographic form of geologic features.

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.