Home | Site Map | What's New | Image Index | Copyright | Posters | ScienceViews | Science Fiction Timelines |

PHOTO INDEX OF
PRIMARY TARGETS
ASTEROIDS
COMETS
EARTH
JUPITER
KUIPER BELT
MARS
MERCURY
METEORITES
NEPTUNE
OORT CLOUD
PLUTO
SATURN
SOLAR SYSTEM
SPACE
SUN
URANUS
VENUS
ORDER PRINTS

OTHER PHOTO INDEXES
ALL TARGETS
PHOTO CATEGORIES

SCIENCEVIEWS
AMERICAN INDIAN
AMPHIBIANS
BIRDS
BUGS
FINE ART
FOSSILS
THE ISLANDS
HISTORICAL PHOTOS
MAMMALS
OTHER
PARKS
PLANTS
RELIGIOUS
REPTILES
SCIENCEVIEWS PRINTS

A Newly Imaged Basin

Target Name:  Mercury
Spacecraft:  MESSENGER
Produced by:  NASA/JHUAPL
Copyright: Copyright Free
Date Released: September 30, 2009

Related Documents
Download Options

NameTypeWidth x HeightSize
VSS00136.jpgJPEG799 x 799133K
VSS00136.tifTIFF799 x 799570K

Date Acquired: September 29, 2009
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 162744150
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 0.40 kilometers/pixel (0.25 miles/pixel)
Scale: The basin is approximately 260 kilometers (160 miles) in diameter
Spacecraft Altitude: 15,600 kilometers (9750 miles)

This unnamed impact basin was seen for the first time yesterday during MESSENGER’s third flyby of Mercury. The outer diameter of the basin is approximately 260 kilometers (160 miles). This basin has a double-ring structure common to basins with diameters larger than 200 kilometers (about 125 miles). The floor of the basin consists of smooth plains material. Concentric troughs, formed by surface extension, are visible on the basin floor, similar to those seen in Raditladi basin. Such troughs are rare on Mercury, and the discovery of such features in this newly imaged basin is of great interest to members of the MESSENGER Science Team. Crater chains produced during ejecta emplacement also can be seen emanating from the basin.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Copyright © 1995-2016 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved.