The wonderful Big Picture series at the Boston Globe devoted a photo series this week to the MESSENGER probe and the fantastic images it has sent us from the tiny enigmatic planet Mercury.
Hop on over there and take a look!
Image: NASA
New Views of Mercury
October 7, 2008 By
Mercury Unseen.
I blogged before about the MESSENGER probe’s second flyby of the planet Mercury that took place yesterday morning. Images have now been officially released and they’re fabulous – see them here! Remember that much of Mercury’s surface had never been seen by humans before in any detail.
Particularly impressive are the bright streaks or ‘rays’ emanating from craters stretching over huge lengths across the planet’s surface. SImilar features are also seen on the surface of the Moon.
MESSENGER will carry out a third flyby next September before settling into a stable orbit around the planet around March 2011. So there’s much much more to look forward to!
Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
MESSENGER swings past Mercury
October 6, 2008 By
Mercury's unseen hemisphere, imaged by MESSENGER on its first flyby in January 2008. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
The NASA MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) probe swung by Mercury for the second time in the early hours of today. The smallest planet in the solar system since Pluto’s downgrading, Mercury has always been a bit of a mystery to scientists.
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