MESSENGER Captures a Shot of Kertész

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Caption:

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Located in the western edge of Mercury's giant Caloris basin ( PIA10383 ), Kertész crater ( recently named for André Kertész, a Hungarian-born American photographer) has some unusual, bright material located on its floor. Sander crater ( PIA10603 ), located in the northwestern edge of Caloris basin, also shows bright material on its floor. The MESSENGER Science Team is investigating the nature and composition of these bright materials and making comparisons between these two craters both located at the edges of Caloris basin. Just northeast of Kertész, a small crater has very bright rays and ejecta in this image, indicating that the crater is young.

Date Acquired: January 14, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 108826812
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 260 meters/pixel (0.16 miles/pixel
Scale: Kertész crater is 34 kilometers (21 miles) in diameter
Spacecraft Altitude: 10,200 kilometers (6,340 miles)

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 .

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