Today's image features a scarp, or cliff face, which is longer than the 77 km shown in this frame. Scarps form as one block of crust is thrusted forward over another, which can result from the cooling of the planet's interior causing global contraction. On Mercury, scarps are called "rupes," which is Latin for cliff.

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: July 08, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 15627633
Image ID: 4404792
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 20.47°
Center Longitude: 141.0° E
Resolution: 51 meters/pixel
Scale: Image width is about 65 km (40.4 miles)
Incidence Angle: 83.4°
Emission Angle: 38.9°
Phase Angle: 45.4°

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.