MESSENGER News - Peak Rings on Mercury

Peak Rings on Mercury Release Date: June 17, 2008 Date Acquired: January 14, 2008 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 108821505 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Scale: Dürer crater is about 190 kilometers (120 miles) in diameter Spacecraft Altitude: 18,300 kilometers (11,400 miles) Of Interest: MESSENGER snapped this image of Mercury’s horizon about 56 minutes before the spacecraft’s closest pass by the planet. The distinctive peak-ring basin Dürer (named from Mariner 10 photos for the German artist Albrecht Dürer) is visible. The smaller crater Mickiewicz (named for the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz) can also be seen, with a smaller central peak-ring structure in the middle of its crater floor. Craters form ring structures during the impact process that creates the crater, and the number and characteristics of the rings depend on the crater’s size. Raditladi, imaged for the first time by MESSENGER and recently named, also shows a pronounced peak-ring structure.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

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