Credit – NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
At a glance this extreamly crisp image may look like Earth’s Moon but it is actually Mercury. The image was taken by the MESSENGER satellites Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS). The picture was taken on April 23, 2013, allows us to take a step back to view the planet. This image in particular highlights many basins near Mercury’s terminator, including Bach crater. Many craters with central peaks and the nearby bright rays of Han Kan crater are also evident.
Once per week, MDIS captures images of Mercury’s limb, with an emphasis on imaging the southern hemisphere limb. These limb images provide information about Mercury’s shape and complement measurements of topography made by the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) of Mercury’s northern hemisphere.
