PIA15201: Close-up Shot of To Ngoc Van
Close-up Shot of To Ngoc Van
 Target Name:  Mercury
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  MESSENGER 
 Spacecraft:  MESSENGER
 Instrument:  MDIS - Wide Angle 
 Product Size:  1560 x 1565 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Johns Hopkins University/APL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA15201.tif (2.444 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA15201.jpg (251.2 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

Prominent near the center of the degraded crater To Ngoc Van is an irregularly shaped pit. Examples of pit-floor craters have been identified across Mercury's surface and are likely formed by past volcanic activity. To Ngoc Van was named in 2009 in honor of the 20th century Vietnamese painter.

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: November 08, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 229277972
Image ID: 988708
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 52.89°
Center Longitude: 248.6° E
Resolution: 68 meters/pixel
Scale: The irregularly shaped pit is roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) across
Incidence Angle: 60.3°
Emission Angle: 23.0°
Phase Angle: 83.4°

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.

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

Image Addition Date:
2011-12-08