The surface shown here was near Mercury's terminator when MDIS captured this high-resolution image. With the Sun just above the horizon, long shadows were cast across the terrain, emphasizing the topography of this rough and cratered land.

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: August 13, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 221713174
Image ID: 626208
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 65.43°
Center Longitude: 315.3° E
Resolution: 31 meters/pixel
Scale: This image is approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) across
Incidence Angle: 84.7°
Emission Angle: 56.3°
Phase Angle: 141.1°

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.