The beautiful Abedin crater is featured in today's image. The crater's sunlit wall meets the crater floor, which occupies the left side of the scene. The floor is largely covered with rock that was melted by the Abdedin impact, ponded on the crater floor, and has now solidified, cracking as it cooled.

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

Date acquired: September 23, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 22252071
Image ID: 4875876
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 62.28°
Center Longitude: 352.0° E
Resolution: 16 meters/pixel
Scale: Abedin crater is 116 km (72 miles) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 83.6°
Emission Angle: 22.1°
Phase Angle: 105.8°

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. MESSENGER acquired over 150,000 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is capable of continuing orbital operations until early 2015.

For information regarding the use of images, see the MESSENGER image use policy.