Mercury in Limb-o: Nasa Messenger Mission Image - Release Date 12 Oct 2011

Date acquired: September 19, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 224912678 Image ID: 779811 Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers) Center Latitude: -36.51° Center Longitude: 325.0° E Scale: Mercury's radius is approximately 2440 km (1516 miles) Phase Angle: 70.6° Of Interest: This image, taken with the Wide Angle Camera (WAC), provides us with a beautiful view of a portion of Mercury's southern hemisphere. The bright rayed crater near the limb is Debussy, named for the impressionist era French composer. Also visible, near the center of the image, is Matabei, a small crater distinguishable by its unique dark rays. This image was acquired as part of MDIS's limb imaging campaign. Once per week, MDIS captures images of Mercury's limb, with an emphasis on imaging the southern hemisphere limb. These limb images provide information about Mercury's shape and complement measurements of topography made by the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) of Mercury's northern hemisphere.

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