The Crater Calvino - Nasa Messenger Mission Image: Release Date 23 Nov 2011

Date acquired: November 01, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 228674673 Image ID: 960122 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: -3.39° Center Longitude: 303.9° E Resolution: 59 meters/pixel Scale: Calvino crater is about 68 km (42 miles) in diameter. Incidence Angle: 69.1° Emission Angle: 31.2° Phase Angle: 78.2° Of Interest: This image, taken with the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), gives us a close-up look at the crater Calvino, also shown in the center of this image of the plains near Rudaki crater. Named for the 20th century Italian journalist and writer Italo Calvino, this crater displays bright central peaks as well as terraced walls. Calvino's rim and the western part of its central peak are composed of material with color properties that are different from the surrounding volcanic plains. 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