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J. Warell (Uppsala Astronomiska Obs.), S. S. Limaye (Space Science and Engineering Center), C.-I. Lagerkvist (Uppsala Astronomiska Obs.)
The regolith of Mercury has been imaged with the Swedish Vacuum Solar Telescope on La Palma and CCD at four maximum elongations from 1995 to the present, in order to produce a global high-resolution multiwavelength map of the surface. Six intermediate-band filters covering the spectral range 450-940 nm have been employed. The sharpest images obtained under optimum seeing conditions show surface features down to the diffraction limit of 0.3 arc seconds, corresponding to about 200 km on Mercury at phase angles of 90 degrees. 91% of the surface has been imaged, centered on longitude 287 degrees; thus the central region imaged at the second Mariner 10 Mercury flyby is not yet covered. About 50 localized bright spots have been detected. Positions of features on the Hermean grid will be measured and compared to results from Mariner 10 and groundbased studies. For part of the data set, processed and remapped images and preliminary results will be presented.
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