Northern Lights
February 2, 2012

Title	:	Northern Lights
Description	:	This image, taken with the Wide Angle Camera (WAC), shows an unnamed complex crater in Mercury's northern hemisphere. The crisp morphology of the terraced walls and central peak, and the high-reflectance ejecta blanket and rays surrounding the crater, indicate that the crater is relatively young. Also visible are many secondary craters, possibly resulting from the impact that formed this crater to the west. This image was acquired as part of MDIS's high-resolution stereo base map. The stereo base map is used in combination with the surface morphology base map to create high-resolution stereo views of Mercury's surface, with an average resolution of 250 meters/pixel (0.16 miles/pixel or 820 feet/pixel) or better. During MESSENGER's one-year mission, the surface morphology base map is acquired during the first 176 days, and the second 176 days are used to acquire the complementary stereo base map, which includes the image here.
Date	:	February 2, 2012
Credit	:	NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Source	:	Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
File Type	:	JPG
File Size	:	923kb