This oblique view obtained by the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) located onboard the NASA - MESSENGER Spacecraft, shows a portion of the Rim of the Mercurian Crater Eminescu. The angle of this image provides a great perspective for viewing not only the spectacular Cliffs that formed as a quantity of unstable material slumped from the Crater Rim down into the Crater Interior, but also a number of Ponds (such as lake-like Surface Features) of Impact Melt perched on the Rim itself. Also the shadows, typical of such a kind of pictures, are something highly spectacular and deeply suggestive.
This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's Surface at resolutions much higher than the 250-meter/pixel (820 feet/pixel) Morphology Base Map or the 1-Km/pixel (0,6 miles/pixel) Color Base Map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's Surface at this high resolution during MESSENGER's one-year mission, but several areas of high scientific interest are generally imaged in this mode each week.

Date of image acquisition: December, 05th, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 231611014
Image ID: 1099316
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 9,8° North
Center Longitude: 115,5° East
Resolution: 34 meters/pixel
Scale: the scene is approximately 35 km (about 22 miles)
Solar Incidence Angle: 65,1° (meaning that the Sun was about 24,9° above the Local Horizon when the picture was taken)
Emission Angle: 60,1°
Sun-Mercury-MESSENGER (or "Phase") Angle: 125,3°