Crossing Cliffs

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Caption:

This false-color image is located just at the edge of the Rembrandt Basin. The basin edge crosses the newly named Enterprise Rupes. This is just a small meeting of two titans, as Enterprise extends for ~822 km (510 mi.), and Rembrandt is about 723 km (450 mi) in diameter. The edge of Rembrandt is loosely marked with a pink line, and Enterprise with a yellow line.

This image was acquired as part of MDIS's 8-color base map. The 8-color base map is composed of WAC images taken through eight different narrow-band color filters and covers more than 99% of Mercury's surface with an average resolution of 1 kilometer/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: August 14, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 221845855, 221845875, 221845859
Image ID: 632458, 632463, 632459
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filters: 9, 7, 6 (996, 748, 433 nanometers) in red, green, and blue
Center Latitude: -36.15°
Center Longitude: 75.66° E
Resolution: 576 meters/pixel
Scale: This image is about 640 km (398 mi.) across.
Incidence Angle: 56.7°
Emission Angle: 0.5°
Phase Angle: 56.3°

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. MESSENGER acquired over 150,000 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is capable of continuing orbital operations until early 2015.

For information regarding the use of images, see the MESSENGER image use policy .

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