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ZZ-Mercury-Rupes-PIA15219-PCF-LXTT.jpgCliffs on the Rim of Eminescu Crater (Enhanced and Sharpened Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)141 visiteThis oblique view shows a portion of the Rim of the crater Eminescu. The angle of this image provides a great perspective for viewing the spectacular Cliffs that formed as material slumped from the Crater Rim into the Crater Interior, as well as small ponds of impact melt perched on the Rim.
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 250-meter/pixel (820 feet/pixel) morphology base map or the 1-Km/pixel (0,6 miles/pixel) color base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's Surface at this high resolution during MESSENGER's one-year mission, but several areas of high scientific interest are generally imaged in this mode each week.
Date acquired: December, 05th, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 231611014
Image ID: 1099316
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 9,8° North
Center Longitude: 115,5° East
Resolution: 34 meters/pixel
Scale: the scene is approximately 35 km (about 22 miles)
Solar Incidence Angle: 65,1° (meaning that the Sun was about 24,9° above the Local Horizon when the picture was taken)
Emission Angle: 60,1°
Sun-Mercury-MESSENGER (or "Phase") Angle: 125,3°MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Rupes-Terror_Rupes-PIA17881-PCF-LXTT-IPF-00.jpgTerror Rupes (CTX Frame - Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)54 visiteThis is certainly not the first time that we can take a look at the Limb of Mercury and, just as usual, we have to underline that these kind of images never fail to showcase the Geological Diversities of the Innermost Planet of the Solar System. This time, something fills the scene with "terror" and that is, to be clear and precise, the "Terror Rupes", such as the long, Cliff-like Landform visible almost at (better yet to say "near"...) the center of the scene. Terror Rupes is one of Mercury's most prominent Lobate Scarps, and it was so named after the HMS (---> Her Majesty's Ship) Terror: an eighteenth-century warship that, later, participated in Scientific Polar Explorations.
Date acquired: February, 4th, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 236853865
Image ID: 1353252
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 69,30° South
Center Longitude: 96,00° East
Solar Incidence Angle: 80,3° (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the picture was taken, was about 9,7° above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 50,9°
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 114,5°
This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft's b/w and NON-Map-Projected image published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 17881) has been additionally processed, contrast enhanced, Gamma corrected, magnified to aid the visibility of the details and then colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft and then looked outside, towards the Southern Limb of Mercury), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. Different colors, as well as different shades of the same color, mean, among other things, the existence of different Elements (Minerals) present on the Surface of Mercury, each having a different Albedo (---> Reflectivity) and Chemical Composition.MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Rupes-Terror_Rupes-PIA17881-PCF-LXTT-IPF-01.jpgTerror Rupes (EDM - Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)64 visiteIn this picture, we can better see the Southern Mercurian Relief known as "Terror Rupes": it is the long, Cliff-like Landform visible right in the middle of the frame. Terror Rupes is one of Mercury's most prominent Lobate Scarps, and it was so named after the HMS (---> Her Majesty's Ship) Terror: an eighteenth-century warship that, later, participated in Scientific Polar Explorations.
Date acquired: February, 4th, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 236853865
Image ID: 1353252
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 69,30° South
Center Longitude: 96,00° East
Solar Incidence Angle: 80,3° (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the picture was taken, was about 9,7° above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 50,9°
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 114,5°
This picture (which is a crop taken from an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft's b/w and NON-Map-Projected image published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 17881) has been additionally processed, contrast enhanced, Gamma corrected, magnified to aid the visibility of the details and then colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft and then looked outside, towards the Surface of Mercury), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. Different colors, as well as different shades of the same color, mean, among other things, the existence of different Elements (Minerals) present on the Surface of Mercury, each having a different Albedo (---> Reflectivity) and Chemical Composition.MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Scarp-208630.jpgDeep Scarp on Mercury (HR)53 visiteNASA’s MESSENGER Spacecraft captured this image on January 14, 2008, during its closest approach to Mercury. The image reveals a variety of intriguing surface features, including craters as small as 300 yards across.
The image also shows landscapes near Mercury’s Equator on the side of the Planet never before imaged by spacecraft. These highly detailed close-ups enable planetary geologists to study the processes that have shaped Mercury’s surface over the past 4 Billion Years. One of the highest and longest scarps cliffs yet seen on Mercury curves from the top center down across the right side of this image. Great forces in Mercury’s crust have thrust the terrain occupying the left two-thirds of the picture up and over the terrain to the right. An impact crater has subsequently destroyed a small part of the scarp near the top of the image.
This image was taken from a distance of 3600 miles from surface of the Planet and shows a region approximately 100 miles across. MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Scarp-PIA12054.jpgLong and High Scarp (Natural Colors; credits: Lunar Explorer Italia)53 visiteThe Scarp cutting through this Unnamed Crater was imaged as MESSENGER approached the Planet during the mission's second Mercury flyby. The full NAC image acquired by MDIS is shown in a previous release (see PIA11772) while the image shown here is a reprojected view. Compare the two images to see the differences.
By using very precise knowledge about the time that the image was taken and the location of the Spacecraft at that time, the original image can be mapped onto a globe of Mercury. Once mapped onto a Mercury globe, that globe can be viewed in many different ways, including reprojections that create flat maps of Mercury's Surface, as seen in the Global Map of Mercury (see PIA11403). The reprojected image shown here is from a simple cylindrical map projection. Map projections are needed to measure accurately the extent of features on the surface. For example, from this reprojection it was determined that this Scarp is about 1 Km (0,6 miles) high and over 160 Km (about 100 miles) in length. MESSENGER Science Team members recently published an image similar to this reprojection in Science magazine.
Date Acquired: October 6, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 131766501
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 420 meters/pixel (0,26 miles)
Scale: This crater is about 200 Km (about 124 miles) in diameter
Spacecraft Altitude: 16.300 Km (about 10.100 miles)MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Terminator-PIA10609.jpgMercurian Rupes (MULTISPECTRUM; credits: Lunexit)55 visiteWhen MESSENGER flew by Mercury on January 14, 2008, the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) snapped images of a large portion of Mercury's surface that had not been previously seen by spacecraft. On these images, new examples of long cliffs were identified and viewed for the first time. This image, taken by the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), shows one of those cliffs in the bottom right corner. The cliff can be followed from the bottom edge of the image, cutting through and deforming an impact crater, and curving out of the image frame on the middle right edge.
This cliff is the northern continuation of the cliff visible in the images previously released on January 16 (PIA10174) and January 27 (PIA10194). This image shows an area of Mercury's surface about 200 Km (about 125 miles) across, and by tracing this cliff through the three images, it can be seen that it extends for hundreds of kilometers.
Cliffs that mark geologic escarpments on Mercury are called "rupes", which is simply the Latin word for cliff. On Mercury, rupes are named after the ships of famous explorers, and names include Discovery Rupes, for a ship of Captain Cook, Santa Maria Rupes, for a ship of Christopher Columbus, and Victoria Rupes, for a ship of Ferdinand Magellan. (The word rupes is both singular and plural).
The MESSENGER Team proposed to the International Astronomical Union, which has the final say on all names of landforms on planets and satellites, that this cliff be named the Beagle Rupes, after the ship on which naturalist Charles Darwin sailed around the world.
Today the MESSENGER Team received word that the proposed name has received formal approval.
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 108827037
MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Terminator-PIA10937-0.jpgNorthern Latitudes and a possible Orbital Anomaly (natural colors; credits: Lunexit)53 visiteAbout 91 minutes after MESSENGER’s closest pass by the Planet, MDIS acquired this image of Mercury’s Northern Surface, which is one in a set of 48 that form a mosaic of the departing Planet. In this image, the left portion of the Surface fades into darkness at the Terminator, the line between the sunlit dayside of the Planet and the dark night side.
The left-side portions of the surface that are just coming out of the darkness are being hit with the first rays of morning sunlight. Some of the surface to the right of this scene can be viewed in this previously released image looking toward Mercury’s North Pole (PIA10193).
Date Acquired: January 14, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 108830334
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 0,8 Km/pixel (0,5 miles/pixel) Scale: The width of this image is about 800 Km (approx. 500 miles)
Spacecraft Altitude: about 30.700 Km (approx. 19.100 miles)MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Terminator-PIA10937-1.jpgNorthern Latitudes and a possible Orbital Anomaly (EDM - Enhanced Natural Colors; credits for the add. process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga)) 120 visiteRaggio Cosmico, senza dubbi.MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Terminator-PIA10939.jpgSveinsdóttir Crater and Beagle Rupes (natural colors; credits: Lunexit)57 visiteNamed for JúlÃana Sveinsdóttir, an Icelandic painter and textile artist, Sveinsdóttir Crater superimposed by Beagle Rupes is a distinctive feature on Mercury's landscape. Unusually elliptical in shape, the Crater was produced by the impact of an object that hit Mercury’s Surface obliquely. More than 600 Km (about 370 miles) long and one of the largest fault scarps on the Planet, Beagle Rupes marks the surface expression of a large thrust fault believed to have formed as Mercury cooled and the entire planet shrank. Beagle Rupes crosscuts Sveinsdóttir Crater and has uplifted the easternmost portion (right side portion) of the crater floor by almost a kilometer, indicating that most of the fault activity at Beagle Rupes occurred after the impact that created Sveinsdóttir. Crosscutting relationships such as this are used to understand the sequence in time of the different processes that have affected Mercury’s evolution.
Date Acquired: January 14, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET):108830230
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 0,77 Kilometers/pixel (0,48 miles/pixel)
Scale: This image is about 780 Km (approx. 490 miles) across; Sveinsdóttir crater is about 120 by 220 Km (appprox. 75 by 140 miles)
Spacecraft Altitude: about 30.300 Km (approx. 18.800 miles)
MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Terminator-PIA11372.jpgDawn on Mercury (HR - possible True Colors; credits: Lunexit)55 visiteThe first image taken following MESSENGER’s closest distance to Mercury (PIA11352) during the mission’s recent flyby was a Wide Angle Camera (WAC) image. The image shown here is the first NAC image acquired after closest approach, and since the resolution of the NAC is a factor of seven higher than that of the WAC, this image is the highest-resolution image obtained during MESSENGER’s second Mercury flyby.
The image was taken near local dawn, so the shadows are long and many features are shrouded in darkness. The right side of this image overlaps with the left side of the previously released close-up view of Machaut crater (see PIA11249), which was taken just 5" later than this image. This portion of Mercury’s Surface is heavily cratered, with small craters visible down to the limits of even this highest-resolution image.
Date Acquired: October 6, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 131770803
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 100 meters/pixel (0,06 miles/pixel)
Scale: This image is about 100 Km (approx. 63 miles) across
Spacecraft Altitude: approx. 3800 Km (about 2400 miles)MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Terminator-PIA12045.jpgMercurian Terminator (Natural Colors; credits: Lunar Explorer Italia)53 visiteThis high-resolution NAC image shows a view of Mercury's Dawn Terminator, the division between the sunlit dayside and dark nightside of the planet, as seen as the MESSENGER Spacecraft departed the Planet during the mission's second Mercury flyby.
This frame is just one of 195 images that make up the second NAC mosaic obtained following closest approach (see PIA11767). A mosaic is a series of images that form a larger picture, in this case a high-resolution view of a portion of Mercury's Northern Hemisphere. This image is also just one of the 1287 total images acquired during Mercury flyby 2.
Last week, all of the images (as well as data from MESSENGER's other instruments) collected during Mercury flyby 2 were made publicly available on NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS) website, giving scientists around the world access to this exciting new dataset.
Date Acquired: January 14, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 108829034
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 590 meters/pixel (0,37 miles)
Scale: Moody is approx. 80 Km (about 50 miles) in diameter
Spacecraft Altitude: about 23.100 Km (approx. 14.300 miles)MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Terminator-PIA12279.jpgStrange Neighbors53 visiteThe MESSENGER Spacecraft was flying toward Mercury at 3,7 Km/second (8300 miles/hour) when it captured this image. The Sun was just above the horizon, and the deep shadows it cast emphasized the texture and topography of the terrain along the Terminator (day/night boundary). The large crater at upper left has a rough rim and walls, and the floor of this crater has a sunken inner circular area. At the center of the sunken floor section is an irregular depression (or pit) that is entirely in shadow in this view. Just to the South-South/West is the right half of another large crater whose rim intersects that of the crater with the sunken floor. The southern crater is about the same diameter as its northern neighbor, but instead of exhibiting a sunken floor with a pit, it has been filled nearly to its rim with smooth material likely of volcanic origin. These two close neighbors, one empty and one full, attest to the surprisingly complicated geological history of the little planet closest to the Sun.
Date Acquired: September 29, 2009
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 162744138
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 400 meters/pixel (0,25 miles/pixel)
Scale: This image is about 220 Km (approx. 140 miles) wide
Spacecraft Altitude: about 15.700 Km (approx. 9800 miles)MareKromium
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