New Coordinates for Named Features on Mercury
18 October 2013In 2013, the coordinates of the named features in the Mercury portion of the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature were updated from values from the Preliminary MESSENGER control network to values in the MESSENGER Team system. This new set of coordinates was derived using ArcMap version 9.3.1 and the global mosaic of Mercury produced with orbital images by the MESSENGER team and released by NASAs Planetary Data System on March 8, 2013. This new global mosaic includes 100% coverage of Mercurys surface.
The extents and sizes of the named features were also updated; these data are approximate and are intended solely to give the user sufficient information to identify named features and their rough extents.
The Mercury portion of the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature web site now defaults to showing feature coordinates that match the MESSENGER teams global mosaic. The original Unknown source coordinates and the Preliminary MESSENGER coordinates are still retained in the gazetteer, but these data sets are now considered archival and will not be updated with new names or changes to approved names.