From the USGS:
The first topographic map of Mercury was released today by the U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona State University, Carnegie Institute of Washington, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and NASA.
This high-resolution map provides the first comprehensive view of Mercury’s entire surface, illustrating the planet’s craters, volcanoes and tectonic landforms. This product brings together observations and scientific findings from NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft, which was the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.
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USGS scientists created cutting-edge, sophisticated new software applications and procedures that changed the way large amounts of images are processed for the purpose of creating topographic maps. Many of Mercury’s landforms, or features, were identified in more than 100,000 spacecraft images, and the photos were then accurately matched together to create a digital map.
Source: USGS
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Direct to First Global Topographic Map of Mercury
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