Highest resolution Mercury in the V band, detail enhanced (50 kb)
These images of Mercury, probably the highest resolution images ever obtained from any Earth based site, were taken on Oct 20 and 22, 1995, with the SVST. The apparent diameter of the 54/62 per cent illuminated disk was 7.0/6.5 arc seconds and the geocentric distance 0.97/1.02 AU, giving a diffraction limited resolution of about 200 km. Central meridian longitude was 272/283 degrees, i.e. opposite to the hemisphere imaged by Mariner 10. Bright isolated spots are possibly crater ray ejecta from the most recent impacts. Observers were J. Warell and M. Gunnarsson; images processed by J. Warell.
Highest resolution Mercury in the V band (48 kb)
Highest resolution Mercury in the V band, detail enhanced (50 kb)
From the same data set as above, but a flatfielded average of the six sharpest individual exposures (left), compared with the fourier filtered (center) and unsharp masked (right) analogs.
Mercury in the R band
An image obtained with a Bessel R filter, after averaging and fourier filtration of five individually flatfielded 25 ms images (left) and final result after unsharp masking (right).
Mercury in the I band
An image obtained with a Bessel I filter, after averaging and fourier filtration of four individually flatfielded 25 ms images (left) and final result after unsharp masking (right).
Mercury in the Z band
An image obtained with a Bessel Z filter, after averaging and fourier filtration of eight individually flatfielded 30 ms images (left) and final result after unsharp masking (right).
Mosaic of Oct 20 images (75 kb)
From upper left to lower right, these are averaged unsharp-masked images obtained with Bessel B, V, R, I, Z filters.
Mosaic of Oct 22 images (47 kb)
From upper left to lower right, these are averaged unsharp-masked images obtained with Bessel V, R, I, Z filters.
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Mercury in the V band