Mercurian Horizon (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)

In this image, Mercury's Cratered Surface stretches to the Horizon. Limb images with the Wide Angle Camera (WAC) have been a part of MDIS imaging campaigns since the beginning of orbital operations. A few months ago, in June 2012, NAC images of Mercury's Limb were added to the regular weekly observations, resulting in a few images each week with dramatic views of Mercury's Horizon such as seen here.
This image was acquired as part of MDIS's limb imaging campaign. Once per week, MDIS captures images of Mercury's Limb, with an emphasis on imaging the Limb of the Southern Hemisphere. These Limb images provide information about Mercury's shape and complement measurements of topography made by the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) of Mercury's Northern Hemisphere.

Date acquired: July 17, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 250986760
Image ID: 2215464
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 30,3° South
Center Longitude: 59,4° East
Scale: the bottom of the image is approximately 300 Km (about 190 miles) in length