Popova crater was recently named for Russian avant-garde artist Lyubov Popova (1889-1924). The illumination angle of this image accentuates the prominent central peak and extensive slumping along the inside of the crater rim, creating sharp angles that are reminiscent of Popova's artwork.

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 resolution, but typically several areas of high scientific interest are imaged in this mode each week.

Date acquired: April 27, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 244000660
Image ID: 1717924
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -34.64°
Center Longitude: 293.1° E
Resolution: 86 meters/pixel
Scale: Popova crater is 34.7 kilometers (21.6 miles) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 68.0°
Emission Angle: 6.8°
Phase Angle: 74.6°

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 acquired 88,746 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is now in a year-long extended mission, during which plans call for the acquisition of more than 80,000 additional images to support MESSENGER's science goals.

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