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At the center of this NAC image is the crater Navoi, named in November
2008 for the Uzbek poet Alisher Navoi (1441-1501) (see PIA11762). Located
in the far north of Mercury’s northern hemisphere, Navoi can be seen
clearly as a bright orange feature near the top of a previously released
enhanced-color Wide Angle Camera (WAC) image of the Caloris basin (part of
which is shown in this release) (seePIA10359). As seen in that color WAC
image, Navoi contains uncommon reddish material that indicates a different
rock composition from its surroundings. In the high-resolution NAC image
shown here, Navoi also appears to have an irregularly shaped depression in
its center. Such depressions have been seen elsewhere on Mercury,
including within Praxiteles crater (PIA12040), and may indicate past
volcanic activity.
Date Acquired: January 14, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 108828804
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Resolution: 550 meters/pixel (0.34 miles)
Scale: Navoi is 66 kilometers (41 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.