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Credit & Copyright: NASA,
Johns Hopkins Univ. APL,
Arizona State Univ., CIW
Explanation:
The first
to orbit inner planet Mercury, the
MESSENGER spacecraft
came to rest
on this region of Mercury's surface on April 30, 2015.
Constructed from MESSENGER image and laser altimeter data,
the projected scene looks north over the northeastern rim of the
broad, lava filled
Shakespeare basin.
The large, 48 kilometer (30 mile) wide crater Janacek
is near the upper left edge.
Terrain height is color coded with red regions
about 3 kilometers above blue ones.
MESSENGER'S final orbit
was predicted to end near the center,
with the spacecraft impacting the surface
at nearly 4 kilometers per second (over 8,700 miles per hour)
and creating a new crater about 16 meters (52 feet) in diameter.
The impact on the far side of Mercury was not observed by telescopes, but
confirmed when no signal was detected from the spacecraft
given time to emerge from behind the planet.
Launched in 2004, the MErcury Surface,
Space ENvironment, GEochemisty and
Ranging spacecraft completed over 4,000 orbits after reaching the
Solar System's innermost planet in 2011.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day