PIA15056: Norwegian Wood


Norwegian Wood

Caption:

The large impact crater at the right top edge of the image is Grieg (~59 km diameter). The eponym is Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), a Norwegian composer. The crater has a small remnant central peak. The formation of a smaller crater has destroyed part of Grieg's western rim.

This image was acquired as part of MDIS's high-resolution surface morphology base map. The surface morphology base map will cover more than 90% of Mercury's surface with an average resolution of 250 meters/pixel (0.16 miles/pixel or 820 feet/pixel). Images acquired for the surface morphology base map typically have off-vertical Sun angles (i.e., high incidence angles) and visible shadows so as to reveal clearly the topographic form of geologic features.

Date acquired: April 06, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 210547235
Image ID: 95872
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 50.35°
Center Longitude: 342.6° E
Resolution: 230 meters/pixel
Scale: The scene is about 235 km (146 mi.) across.
Incidence Angle: 50.3°
Emission Angle: 0.8°
Phase Angle: 49.5°

Background Info:

The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. Visit the Why Mercury? section of this website to learn more about the key science questions that the MESSENGER mission is addressing. During the one-year primary mission, MDIS is scheduled to acquire more than 75,000 images in support of MESSENGER's science goals.

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 Wide Angle Camera (WAC)
Extra Keywords Crater, Grayscale, Impact, Map, Radio, Shadow
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2011-10-19
Date in Caption 2011-04-06
Image Credit NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA15056
Identifier PIA15056