This high-resolution view shows a small, fresh 15-km-diameter impact crater (inset) at a high northern latitude on Mercury. Bright material is exposed on the upper part of the south-facing wall, and hollows are present on a section of the wall that has slumped partway down toward the floor.

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 Presented: September 29, 2011, at a NASA press briefing

Date acquired: July 05, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 218374376
Image ID: 466668
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 66.48°
Center Longitude: 153.2° E
Resolution: 18 meters/pixel
Incidence Angle: 66.4°
Emission Angle: 2.5°
Phase Angle: 68.9°

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.