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WAC versus NAC
This pair of images illustrates the differences between the footprints of the WAC and the NAC, the two cameras that make up the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS). The image on the left is a WAC image that includes several bright craters. Their bright ejecta patterns indicate that the craters are relatively young. The image on the right is a NAC image taken within the footprint of the WAC image, revealing a complex crater with a central peak (marked by the X). The WAC field of view is approximately seven times wider than that of the NAC. The WAC can image the planet through 11 different color filters. The NAC provides the highest-resolution views of Mercury’s surface.1.
Date acquired: March 29, 2011
Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington