Rayed Man: Nasa Messenger Image of the Day Gallery: Release Date 18 Oct 2011

Date acquired: June 07, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 215938633 Image ID: 349772 Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers) Center Latitude: -8.78° Center Longitude: 125.5° E Resolution: 301 meters/pixel Scale:The scene is about 320 km (198 mi.) across. Incidence Angle: 54.6° Emission Angle: 15.9° Phase Angle: 38.7° Of Interest: The beautiful rayed crater at the left edge of the image is named for Benedict Enwonwu, a Nigerian sculptor and painter who lived from 1921-1994. Enwonwu crater is about 38 km in diameter. Its bright rays extend for hundreds of kilometers from the rim of the crater. This image was acquired as part of MDIS's high-resolution surface morphology base map. The surface morphology base map will cover more than 90% of Mercury's surface with an average resolution of 250 meters/pixel (0.16 miles/pixel or 820 feet/pixel). Images acquired for the surface morphology base map typically have off-vertical Sun angles (i.e., high incidence angles) and visible shadows so as to reveal clearly the topographic form of geologic features.

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