Click on image for
larger annotated version
This NAC image, taken about 85 minutes after MESSENGER’s closest approach
during the mission’s second Mercury flyby, shows a view of Astrolabe
Rupes, named for the ship of the French explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville.
Rupes is the Latin word for cliff. Mercury’s day/night transition (the
terminator) is located on the left side of the image, and the Sun is
striking the cliff face of Astrolabe Rupes in the upper right of the
image. Also visible in the image are additional unnamed rupes, whose cliff
faces are casting dark shadows. One of these rupes intersects the crater
Ghiberti, named for the Italian Renaissance sculptor. Rupes on Mercury are
thought to have formed as the interior of Mercury cooled and the planet
consequently contracted slightly. Determining the number and extent of
rupes on Mercury can thus be used to understand the thermal history of the
planet.
Date Acquired: October 6, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 131774936
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 660 meters/pixel (0.41 miles/pixel)
Scale: Ghiberti crater is 123 kilometers in diameter (76 miles)
Spacecraft Altitude: 26,000 kilometers (16,000 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.