MESSENGER: MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging
| Date acquired: December 22, 2011 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 233052079 Image ID: 1168964 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: 45.51° Center Longitude: 177.9° E Resolution: 24 meters/pixel Scale: Ailey crater is 21 km (13 mi.) in diameter Incidence Angle: 46.2° Emission Angle: 28.7° Phase Angle: 74.9° Of Interest: This image shows us a spectacular high-resolution view of newly named Ailey crater. Ailey is one of 23 Mercury craters recently assigned names by the IAU, and is named for the 20th century choreographer and activist Alvin Ailey. Ailey was best known for his role in revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance and popularizing modern dance with pieces like his signature 1960 work, Revelations. Like its namesake, Ailey crater has revelations of its own, as landslides expose fresh material along the crater walls. 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 200-meter/pixel morphology base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution, but typically several areas of high scientific interest are imaged in this mode each week. | |
| Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington |
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