During MESSENGER’s second Mercury flyby, the first images that were taken
following closest approach were acquired using the WAC’s 11 narrow-band
color filters. Five different scenes were acquired in 11 filters each,
resulting in 55 images total that comprise a 5 column x 1 row mosaic. The
individual WAC image shown here is the fifth scene of that 5x1 mosaic. The
large, smooth-floored crater near the center of the image is Titian, named
in honor of Tiziano Vecellio, the Italian Renaissance painter. Scenes one,
two, three, and four of this mosaic can be viewed in previously released
images. Though the entire 5x1 mosaic only took about six minutes to be
obtained, the resolution of the images changed by a factor of two between
scene one and scene five shown here, as the MESSENGER spacecraft sped away
from Mercury. An enhanced color movie using images from this mosaic has
also been released (see PIA11416).
Date Acquired: October 6, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 131770676
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System
(MDIS)
WAC Filter: 7 (750 nanometers)
Resolution: 580 meters/pixel (0.36 miles/pixel)
Scale: Titian crater is 121 kilometers (75 miles) in diameter
Spacecraft Altitude: 3,200 kilometers (2,000 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.