Today's color image features both Mercury's terminator and limb. The terminator is the striking separation of night and day on Mercury. It is seen in this image with the change from dark, on the left of the image, to light. Mercury's limb is also captured, as we can see the edge between sunlit Mercury and space.

Date acquired: May 05, 2014
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 41602341, 41602337, 41602335
Image ID: 6252070, 6252068, 6252067
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filters: 9, 7, 6 (996, 748, 433 nanometers) in red, green, and blue
Center Latitude: -57.08°
Center Longitude: 93.92° E
Resolution: 3227 meters/pixel
Scale: The bottom edge of this image is approximately 2530 km (1572 miles) in length

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.