NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Death of the (Colorful) Poet

This image gives us a glimpse of Lermontov crater, first viewed by the Mariner 10 mission. This color version emphasizes the bright rays extending from Bek to the northwest that fall on an area of Low Reflectance Material (LRM). Lermontov features bright hollows in its crater floor, alongside pyroclastic vents and deposits that have a golden-yellow cast in this presentation. Mikhail Lermontov, the esteemed Russian poet for whom this crater was named, was perhaps most famous for his poem "Death of the Poet", which led to his exile by czar Nicholas I.

Date acquired: April 12, 2011

Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington