The crater surrounded by dark material located just below and to the left of the center of this NAC image is the newly named crater Nawahi (see PIA11762). The crater is named in honor of Joseph Kaho'oluhi Nawahiokalaniopuu, the 19th century native Hawaiian painter. Nawahi crater is located within the large Caloris impact basin (see PIA10383), and the hills and rugged terrain to the left of Nawahi in this image are part of the basin rim. The unusual dark material creating a halo around Nawahi makes this crater of special interest, as the dark material likely represents rocks with a different chemical and mineralogical composition than those of the neighboring surface. A portion of the newly named crater Munch is also visible on the upper right edge of this image. Munch is also rimmed by dark material. Other craters that expose dark materials include Atget, Neruda, and the newly named Poe.

Date Acquired: January 14, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 108826682
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 240 meters/pixel (0.15 miles/pixel)
Scale: Nawahi crater has a diameter of 34 kilometers (21 miles)
Spacecraft Altitude: 9,400 kilometers (5,800 miles)

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.