On the Edge

In today's image, Mercury's horizon cuts a striking edge against the stark blackness of space. On the right, sunlight harshly brings the landscape into relief while on the left, the surface is shrouded in the darkness of night. This image was acquired as part of MDIS's limb imaging campaign. Once per week, MDIS captures images of Mercury's limb, with an emphasis on imaging the southern hemisphere limb. These limb images provide information about Mercury's shape and complement measurements of topography made by the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) of Mercury's northern hemisphere. Date acquired: January 20, 2015 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 64084239 Image ID: 7831084 Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers) Center Latitude: -54.45° Center Longitude: 90.52° E Center Resolution: 401 meters/pixel http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19192