Raditladi’s Troughs

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Caption:

The troughs of Raditladi are the focus of this high-resolution view inside the peak-ring basin . The troughs, which are largely concentric to the basin, formed through extensional stresses that caused portions of the floor to pull apart. Such extensional features are similar to those observed within Caloris . Some of the small, bright craters that dot Raditladi's floor may be secondaries from Fonteyn crater approximately 900 km away, whose rays appear to cross the basin.

This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions much higher than the 200-meter/pixel morphology base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution, but typically several areas of high scientific interest are imaged in this mode each week.

Date acquired: April 30, 2014
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 41150312
Image ID: 6219297
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 27.79°
Center Longitude: 119.4° E
Resolution: 38 meters/pixel
Scale: This scene is approximately 46 km (29 miles) across
Incidence Angle: 63.9°
Emission Angle: 33.0°
Phase Angle: 97.0°

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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