images

Mercury by Messenger- 09/2009

by

Nasa/JHUAPL/ Carnegie Institution of Washington/Novapix

Reference

a-mer04-00030

Date

2009-10-01

As the spacecraft approached Mercury for the mission's third flyby of the Solar System’s innermost planet, MESSENGER captured this striking view. This WAC image shows portions of Mercury's surface that had remained unseen by spacecraft even after the three flybys by Mariner 10 in 1974-75 and MESSENGER's two earlier flybys in 2008. In this image, the newly imaged terrain is located in a wide vertical strip near the limb of the planet (on the left side of Mercury’s partially sunlit disk). Image taken on september 29, 2009.