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Happy Trails
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Caption:
This view, captured by the Wide Angle Camera (WAC) , shows a trail of small craters. Such secondary crater chains are formed when the ejecta from a primary impact fall in the surrounding area, forming their own often overlapping small craters. Also visible in this image are smooth plains, formed by volcanism that has filled in a large impact crater.
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:
July 15, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET):
219181924
Image ID:
505807
Instrument:
Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter:
7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude:
83.21°
Center Longitude:
173.6° E
Resolution:
155 meters/pixel
Scale:
The small crater at the bottom of the image has a diameter of 24 km (15 miles).
Incidence Angle:
85.3°
Emission Angle:
0.2°
Phase Angle:
85.3°
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. 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, Volcano | |
| Acquisition Date | ||
| Release Date | 2011-08-09 | |
| Date in Caption | 2011-07-15 | |
| Image Credit | NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington | |
| Source | photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA14543 | |
| Identifier | PIA14543 | |
