Date acquired: December 31, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 233815216
Image ID: 1205795
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 26.62°
Center Longitude: 119.1° E
Resolution: 46 meters/pixel
Scale: The crater cut by the north-west edge of the image is about 17 kilometers (11 miles) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 37.8°
Emission Angle: 5.4°
Phase Angle: 34.1°

Of Interest: The surface shown in this high-resolution NAC image is located near the center of the Raditladi basin. Extensional troughs, called graben, are visible on the right side of this image. The bottom of the image shows a patch of darker material possibly excavated by the crater extending out of the south-west image edge.

This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions much higher than the 250-meter/pixel (820 feet/pixel) morphology base map or the 1-kilometer/pixel (0.6 miles/pixel) color base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution during MESSENGER's one-year mission, but several areas of high scientific interest are generally imaged in this mode each week.

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.