Moody is an

impact crater An impact crater is a depression (geology), depression in the surface of a solid astronomical body formed by the hypervelocity impact event, impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal c ...

on Mercury. Moody features a complex central peak and an annulus of dark material on its outer floor. The area inward of the dark ring appears reddish in enhanced color wide angle camera images acquired by the

MESSENGER Messenger, Messengers, The Messenger or The Messengers may refer to: People * Courier, a person or company that delivers messages, packages, or mail * Messenger (surname) * Bicycle messenger, a bicyclist who transports packages through cities * M ...

spacecraft, indicating the presence of material different in composition from that of either the dark material or the crater's immediate surroundings. Dark material has been found associated with other craters on Mercury, including Munch and Poe. Moody is somewhat unusual for having its dark ring confined to the crater floor, rather than forming the crater rim as at Munch and Poe."Moody Sculpts Mercury's Surface"
, MESSENGER, April 14, 2009. The crater was named in November 2008 after Jamaican sculptor and painter Ronald Moody. To the northeast of Moody is an unnamed peak ring basin, one of 110 on Mercury.Chapman, C. R., Baker, D. M. H., Barnouin, O. S., Fassett, C. I., Marchie, S., Merline, W. J., Ostrach, L. R., Prockter, L. M., and Strom, R. G., 2018. Impact Cratering of Mercury. In ''Mercury: The View After

'' edited by Sean C. Solomon, Larry R. Nittler, and Brian J. Anderson. Cambridge Planetary Science. Chapter 9.

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Moody crater MESSENGER WAC IGF to RGB.jpg, Approximate color image of Moody (center) Moody crater EN0264069398M.jpg, Note the unusual ring of dark floor material around the central peak Moody crater EN0220505668M EN0220505671M.jpg, Oblique view of Moody crater

References

Impact craters on Mercury {{Mercury-planet-stub