MESSENGER Looks Out on a Limb Target Name:   Mercury Spacecraft:   MESSENGER Produced by:   NASA/JHUAPL Copyright:  Copyright Free Date Taken:   October 6, 2008

• MESSENGER Reveals Mercury as Never Seen Before
• Mercury
• MESSENGER

Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 131766496
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 440 meters/pixel (0.28 miles/pixel)
Scale: Foreground is 450 km across (290 miles)
Spacecraft Altitude: 16,300 kilometers (10,200 miles)

This image shows a portion of Mercury in previously unseen terrain, taken as MESSENGER approached the planet during its second flyby. This view is looking out toward the limb of the planet (north is to the image right). In the foreground is a region of rough, heavily cratered terrain; a large, ancient two-ring impact basin may be seen at the bottom center of the image. In the distance is a region of younger, tectonically modified smooth plains that have been pockmarked by small craters. The origin of smooth plains on Mercury remains a topic of active inquiry by the MESSENGER team.

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