Mercury mosaics from MESSENGER

I have finished up my mosaics of Mercury and posted them on Unmannedspaceflight.com. These include a medium resolution global mosaic and a high resolution mosaic covering the northern hemisphere.

• 87-frame Global Mosaic - This global mosaic of Mercury consists of 87 MDIS Narrow-angle Camera images acquired during the MESSENGER spacecraft's January 14, 2008 flyby of Mercury. These images were acquired when MESSENGER was between 17,484 and 20,790 km from Mercury or between 53 and 63 minutes after closest approach. This mosaic has a resolution of 550 m/pixel. This mosaic uses calibrated MDIS images and the brightness was adjusted to improve the visibility of surface features. The features seen in this mosaic cover a significant portion of the terrain not seen by Mariner 10 during its three flybys in the 1970s. [JPG PNG]
• Northern Hemisphere Mosaic - This regional mosaic showcasing Mercury's northern hemisphere consists of 96 MDIS Narrow-angle Camera images acquired during the MESSENGER spacecraft's January 14, 2008 flyby of Mercury. These images were acquired when MESSENGER was between 8,148 and 11,516 km from Mercury or between 27.5 and 37 minutes after closest approach. This mosaic has a resolution of 309 m/pixel. This mosaic uses calibrated MDIS images and the brightness was adjusted to improve the visibility of surface features. The features seen in this mosaic cover a significant portion of the terrain not seen by Mariner 10 during its three flybys in the 1970s including a number of features that have been recently named. The Caloris impact, the largest and most recent large impact basin on Mercury, is visible as a circular brightish region along the eastern portion of the mosaic. Another large (and relatively young) impact basin, Raditladi, can be seen to the west of Caloris basin. Both basin are unique because they are host to Mercury's only known extensional tectonic features, represented by concentric and radial grabens (troughs). One such extensional feature, Pantheon Fossae, is a prominent feature in the central part of Caloris basin and consists of a radial pattern of cracks. [JPG PNG]
• High-Resolution Equatorial Mosaic - This regional mosaic showcasing Mercury's equatorial region consists of 68 MDIS Narrow-angle Camera images acquired during the MESSENGER spacecraft's January 14, 2008 flyby of Mercury. These images were acquired when MESSENGER was between 4,110 and 6,322 km from Mercury or between 16 and 22.5 minutes after closest approach. This mosaic has a resolution of 125 m/pixel. This mosaic uses uncalibrated MDIS images and the brightness was adjusted to improve the visibility of surface features. This is MESSENGER's highest resolution mosaic acquired during the January 2008 flyby. This mosaic is centered on 4.5 South Latitude, 128 East Longitude. [JPG]
• Inbound Crescent Mosaic - This global mosaic of Mercury's crescent consists of 29 MDIS Narrow-angle Camera images acquired during the MESSENGER spacecraft's January 14, 2008 flyby of Mercury. These images were acquired when MESSENGER was between 19,189 and 17,853 km from Mercury or between 58 and 54 minutes before closest approach. This mosaic has a resolution of 513 m/pixel. This mosaic uses uncalibrated MDIS images and the brightness was adjusted to improve the visibility of surface features. This is MESSENGER's highest resolution mosaic acquired during the January 2008 flyby. The features seen in this mosaic were observed by Mariner 10 in the 1970s, but the high-phase angle allows scientists better study the topographic structures in this region. [PNG]

Link: Mercury mosaics from January 2008 Flyby [unnmannedspaceflight.com]