PIA11762: New Names for a Second Set of Craters on Mercury


New Names for a Second Set of Craters on Mercury

Caption:

The year 2008 has been an eventful and historic one for both the MESSENGER mission and Mercury science. When 2008 began, only 45% of Mercury surface had been seen by spacecraft. Then in 2008, the MESSENGER mission flew by Mercury twice, first on January 14 and again on October 6, capturing images of previously unseen terrain. Now, as 2008 comes to its end, imaging coverage of Mercury's surface is about 90%. The MESSENGER mission still has much to look forward to, with a third Mercury flyby in 2009 and orbiting Mercury beginning in 2011. But for the moment, let's reflect back on 2008, with the help of 12 MESSENGER images:

Background Info:

These images are from MESSENGER, a NASA Discovery mission to conduct the first orbital study of the innermost planet, Mercury. For information regarding the use of images, see the MESSENGER image use policy .

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mercury
System
Target Type Planet
Mission MESSENGER
Instrument Host MESSENGER
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Detector
Extra Keywords Crater, Grayscale, Volcano
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2008-11-26
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA11762
Identifier PIA11762