Oblique Impact: Nasa Messenger Image Gallery - Release Date 23 Oct 2011

Date acquired: October 10, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 226709610 Image ID: 865875 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: 9.36° Center Longitude: 261.4° E Resolution: 139 meters/pixel Scale: The long dimension of the elliptical crater is approximately 45 km (28 mi.). Incidence Angle: 49.2° Emission Angle: 15.3° Phase Angle: 43.7° Of Interest: The large crater here was formed by a very low angle, or oblique, impact. Although impacts at most angles produce circular craters, impacts with incidence angles <15º (from the horizontal) will create elliptical craters. This crater is superposed on an older, circular crater. This image was acquired as part of MDIS's high-resolution stereo base map. The stereo base map is used in combination with the surface morphology base map to create high-resolution stereo views of Mercury's surface, with an average resolution of 250 meters/pixel (0.16 miles/pixel or 820 feet/pixel) or better. During MESSENGER's one-year mission, the surface morphology base map is acquired during the first 176 days, and the second 176 days are used to acquire the complementary stereo base map, which includes the image here.

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