This image, taken with the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), gives us a close-up view of an unnamed complex crater. First imaged at high resolution by MESSENGER in July 2011, this crater displays central peaks and terraced walls. The terraces, or "slumps," are generally caused by material collapsing down the steep walls of the crater. Due to the detail still visible in the ejecta blanket and its comparatively high reflectance, this crater is thought to be relatively young.

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.

The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. Visit the Why Mercury? section of this website to learn more about the key science questions that the MESSENGER mission is addressing. During the one-year primary mission, MDIS is scheduled to acquire more than 75,000 images in support of MESSENGER's science goals.

Date acquired: September 15, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 224551047
Image ID: 761407
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 47.81°
Center Longitude: 64.94° E
Resolution: 26 meters/pixel
Scale: This image is about 27 km (17 miles) across.
Incidence Angle: 73.2°
Emission Angle: 1.6°
Phase Angle: 74.9°

These images are from MESSENGER, a NASA Discovery mission to conduct the first orbital study of the innermost planet, Mercury. For information regarding the use of images, see the MESSENGER image use policy.