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> Mercury by Messenger- Jan 14 2008

Mercury by Messenger- Jan 14 2008

author: Nasa/JHUAPL/ Carnegie Institution of Washington/Novapix

reference: a-mer04-00006

Image Size 300 DPI: 9 * 9 cm

Shortly following MESSENGER's closest approach to Mercury on January 14, 2008, the spacecraft's Narrow Angle Camera on the Mercury Dual Imaging System  instrument acquired this image as part of a mosaic that covers much of the sunlit portion of the hemisphere not viewed by Mariner 10. The double-ringed crater pictured in the upper right of this image appears to be filled with smooth plains material, perhaps volcanic in nature. This crater was subsequently disrupted by the formation of a prominent scarp (cliff), the surface expression of a major crustal fault system, that runs alongside part of its southern rim and may have led to the uplift seen across a portion of the crater's floor. A smaller crater in the upper left of the image has also been cut by the scarp, showing that the fault beneath the scarp was active after both of these craters had formed. This MESSENGER image was taken from a distance of about 18,000 kilometers (11,000 miles) from the surface of Mercury, at 20:03 UTC, about 58 minutes after the closest approach point of the flyby. The region shown is about 500 kilometers (300 miles) across, and craters as small as 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) can be seen in this image.

Keywords for this photo:

2008 - ASTRONOMY - BLACK AND WHITE - CRATER - IMPACT CRATER - MERCURY - MESSENGER - PLANET -