Balanchine, Ailey, Poe and Caloris

Mercury's Poe, Ailey and Balanchine craters and the Caloris basin
Mercury’s Poe, Ailey and Balanchine craters and the Caloris basin

The planet Mercury is chalk full of craters and basins resulting from impacts from all sorts of cosmic debris. This view of the planet taken by the Messenger spacecraft’s wide angle camera shows the landscape with four such impact features. Starting at the lower right we have the Balanchine crater. Near the center of this image is the Ailey crater with its bright floor, resulting from a diverse subsurface composition. At the lower left edge of the above picture we have the Poe crater with its dark edges. And lastly we have part of the Caloris basin visible in the foreground of this image.

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