Lifting the Veil of Anonymity: Nasa Messenger Image: Release Date:12 Sept 2011

Date acquired: August 31, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 223271934 Image ID: 699956 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: -54.33° Center Longitude: 311.2° E Resolution: 100 meters/pixel Scale: The terraced crater in the center of the image is about 36 km (22 miles) in diameter. Incidence Angle: 67.6° Emission Angle: 35.2° Phase Angle: 32.3° Of Interest: This image, taken by the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), shows a beautiful example of a crater with terraced walls and bright central peaks. This crater is currently unnamed, but if this crater, with the intriguing bright material on its floor, is studied in detail, it may be assigned a name according to the set of rules defined by the International Astronomical Union. 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.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington