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The crater Oskison is located in the far northern hemisphere of Mercury, in the plains north of Caloris basin (PIA10359). Oskison is a distinctive crater with a large central peak that exposes material excavated from depth. In this NAC image, many chains of secondary craters (PIA10178) are visible (green arrows), radiating from Oskison outward onto the surrounding smooth plains. Oskison was just named in November 2008 for John Milton Oskison, a Cherokee author (1874-1947) (see PIA11762).

Date Acquired: January 14, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 108828799
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 550 meters (0.34 miles) per pixel
Scale: Oskison is 120 kilometers (75 miles) in diameter
Spacecraft Altitude: 21,700 kilometers (13,500 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.