Zeami's Zoo of Features - Nasa Messenger Mission Image: Release Date 30 Apr 2012

MESSENGER: MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging

Date acquired: April 08, 2012 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 242378498 Image ID: 1621634 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: -2.80° Center Longitude: 212.7° E Resolution: 186 meters/pixel Scale: Zeami crater is 129 km (80 mi) in diameter. Incidence Angle: 79.7° Emission Angle: 26.7° Phase Angle: 52.9° Of Interest: This image, taken with the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), gives us a good look at Zeami crater. Named for the 14th century Japanese actor and playwright Zeami Motokiyo, this crater displays a variety of features characteristic of complex craters on Mercury. We can see the remnants of an inner peak ring, terraced walls, and hollows scattered across the crater floor, especially near the top of the image. This image was acquired as part of MDIS's high-incidence-angle base map. The high-incidence-angle base map is a major mapping activity in MESSENGER's extended mission and complements the surface morphology base map of MESSENGER's primary mission that was acquired under generally more moderate incidence angles. High incidence angles, achieved when the Sun is near the horizon, result in long shadows that accentuate the small-scale topography of geologic features. The high-incidence-angle base map is being acquired with an average resolution of 200 meters/pixel.

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