Mercurian Limb with Rembrandt Basin (Natural Colors; credits: Lunar Explorer Italia)

This mosaic was assembled using NAC images acquired as the MESSENGER spacecraft approached the Planet during the mission's second Mercury flyby. The Rembrandt Impact Basin is seen at the center of the mosaic, as night was falling across the Basin's Eastern Edge. An image similar to this one appears on the cover of the 1st of May issue of the "Science" magazine, which contains four articles on the latest results from that flyby. Click here to view more materials presented during a NASA media teleconference about these latest findings.

Date Acquired: October 6, 2008
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Scale: Rembrandt Basin is approx. 715 Km (about 444 miles) in diameter