Pits and Scarps

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Caption:

Lessing crater can be seen in the lower left of this image. Instead of the typical central peak found in a complex crater on Mercury, Lessing sports a central pit , likely formed by volcanic activity. A large tectonic scarp that formed when the planet's interior cooled and contracted can be seen running through a crater near the center of the image.

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: October 20, 2013
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 24565196
Image ID: 5039705
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -26.77°
Center Longitude: 273.6° E
Resolution: 256 meters/pixel
Scale: Lessing crater is approximately 95 km (59 mi.) in diameter.
Incidence Angle: 79.7°
Emission Angle: 59.7°
Phase Angle: 61.6°
North is to the upper left of the image.

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, estimated to occur on or before April 30, 2015.

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

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