Scrutinizing Secondaries

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Caption:

The surface in this scene has been pummeled by secondary craters , possibly from the impact that formed the nearby Mickiewicz crater . MESSENGER has acquired nearly 25,000 images below 10 meters/pixel (~33 feet/pixel), allowing us to examine the innermost planet at an unprecedented scale.

Date acquired: April 21, 2015
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 71933951
Image ID: 8369698
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 24.12°
Center Longitude: 260.65° E
Resolution: 5.0 meters/pixel
Scale: This scene is approximately 500 meters (0.3 mi.) across

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. In the mission's more than four years of orbital operations, MESSENGER has acquired over 250,000 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER's highly successful orbital mission is about to come to an end , as the spacecraft runs out of propellant and the force of solar gravity causes it to impact the surface of Mercury in April 2015.

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

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