Date acquired: April 29, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 212590162
Image ID: 192040
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 63.66°
Center Longitude: 204.6° E
Resolution: 163 meters/pixel
Scale: The crater that occupies the upper left portion of the image is about 55 kilometers in diameter
Incidence Angle: 78.8°
Emission Angle: 0.8°
Phase Angle: 79.6°

Of Interest: The upper right portion of this image shows an area of smooth plains, while chains of secondary craters can be identified cutting across the middle of the image. This portion of Mercury's surface is located about 300 kilometers east of Verdi.

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.