M-031-2.jpgM 31 - The "Andromeda" Galaxy80 visite"L'unica cosa che l'uomo conosce con assoluta certezza il nonsenso dell'esistenza".
L. TolstojMareKromium
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ZQ-Mercury-PIA10611.jpgNew Names for Features on Mercury54 visiteThe International Astronomical Union (IAU) recently approved new names for features on Mercury that were all seen for the first time in images taken by MESSENGER during the Spacecraft's first flyby of the Planet.
Read the full press release for additional details about the naming process and the origin of the names, and visit the U.S.G.S. website, the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, to learn about all of the named planetary features in the Solar System.
This image, produced by mosaicking many Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) images together, shows the locations of the newly named features, along with the craters Basho, Mozart, and Tolstoj, first seen by the Mariner 10 Mission.
Close-up views of many of these features are available in the MESSENGER website image gallery. In particular, look at these previous releases for NAC high-resolution images of Apollodorus, Beagle Rupes, Eminescu, Mozart, Neruda, Pantheon Fossae, Raditladi and Sander.MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Qi_Baishi_et_al_-PIA14398-PCF-LXTT.jpgTolstoj Basin (Enhanced Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)248 visiteThe various named features present in this color image, Qi Baishi, Hovnatanian, Kalidasa and Tolstoj, create a stunning depiction of Mercury's scarred and variable Surface. Tolstoj, the large basin in the bottom right of the image, represents the war and peace of its namesake's famous novel through its smooth, light-colored center and rough, dark blue exterior.
This image was acquired as part of MDIS's color base map. The color base map is composed of WAC images taken through eight different narrow-band color filters and will cover more than 90% of Mercury's Surface with an average resolution of 1 Km/pixel (0,6 miles/pixel). The highest-quality color images are obtained for Mercury's Surface when both the spacecraft and the Sun are overhead, so these images typically are taken with viewing conditions of low incidence and emission angles.
Date acquired: June, 27th, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 217689462, 217689478, 217689458
Image ID: 433721, 433725, 433720
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 9 (1000 nanometers), 7 (750 nanometers), 6 (430 nanometers) as red-green-blue
Center Latitude: 11,69 South
Center Longitude: 178,1 East
Resolution: 1387 meters/pixel
Scale: the Inner Ring of Tolstoj is roughly 365 Km
Incidence Angle: 13,4
Emission Angle: 14,6
Phase Angle: 28,0MareKromium
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ZZ-Mercury-Craters-Tolstoj_Basin-PIA16663-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgTolstoj Basin and Surroundings (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)60 visiteThis image of the Limb of the Planet Mercury shows, among other fascinating Surface Features, the location of the Impact Basin Tolstoj (approximately 350 Km - such as about 217,35 miles - in diameter). The interior of Tolstoj is filled with smooth Plains while the exterior is largely made of the so-called Low Reflectivity Material (or LRO, for short). Just to give to our Readers an idea of the real dimensions and proportions of what is visible on this part of Mercury, you have to consider that today's frame is approx. 2770 Km (such as about 1720,17 miles) across.
Date acquired: February 12th, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 212797716
Image ID: 202274
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 8,04 South
Center Longitude: 200,07 East
Solar Incidence Angle: 60,1 (meaning that the Sun, at the time that the picture was taken, was about 29,9 above the imaged Local Mercurian Horizon)
Emission Angle: 48,1
Sun-Mercury-Messenger (or "Phase") Angle: 96,8
This picture (which is an Original NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft's b/w Map-Projected frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 16663) has been additionally processed, contrast enhanced, magnified 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 down, 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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