One of the more dramatic craters seen by MESSENGER during
its first flyby of Mercury this past January was Vivaldi (see PIA10175).
Right at the day/night terminator, the crater was slipping away
into darkness as Mercury slowly rotated. Two days ago,
MESSENGER made its second flyby of the innermost planet,
and once again captured a view of Vivaldi, this time at sunrise.
Long shadows are draped across the floor of this feature, which
is actually considered a “small” double-ring basin despite having
a diameter of 213 kilometers (133 miles). The low Sun illumination
also highlights ridges, valleys, and chains of craters radiating
away from Vivaldi.
Date Acquired: October 6, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 131771928
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 250 meters/pixel (0.16 miles/pixel)
Scale: The diameter of Vivaldi crater is 213 kilometers (133 miles)
Spacecraft Altitude: 9,600 kilometers (6,000 miles)
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.
