Date acquired: April 30, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 212676623
Image ID: 196156
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 43.84°
Center Longitude: 191.1° E
Resolution: 276 meters/pixel
Scale: This image is 280 kilometers across
Incidence Angle: 78.6°
Emission Angle: 1.6°
Phase Angle: 80.3°

Of Interest: This rough area of Mercury's surface is located outside of the large (1,550-kilometer diameter) Caloris basin. The formation of Caloris scoured the neighboring surface, creating the rugged landscape seen here.

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.