Date acquired: November 17, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 230018573 Image ID: 1023529 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: -51.0° Center Longitude: 175.1° E Resolution: 221 meters/pixel Scale: The rayed crater is approximately 20 km (12 miles) in diameter Incidence Angle: 53.1° Emission Angle: 37.8° Phase Angle: 78.6° Of Interest: The ejecta of this fresh 20-km impact crater swept the surface, leaving beautiful bright rays. Crater rays fade with time as smaller impacts mix them into the surrounding soil and particles from the solar wind change the surface's chemistry. Given a little time (perhaps a million years or so), this crater will look like the other similar-sized craters in the frame. 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 |
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