What would it look like to fly past Mercury? Just such an adventure was experienced last week by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its first flyby [ http://messenger.jh…] of the strange moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]-like world nearest the Sun. Pictured above [ http://messenger.jh…] is the limb of Mercury [ http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Mercury_(pl anet) ] seen by MESSENGER [ http://en.wikipedia…] upon approach, from about 1 1/2 Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] diameters away. Visible on the hot and barren planet are many craters [ http://liftoff.msfc…], many appeared to be more shallow than similarly sized craters on the Moon. The comparatively high gravity [ http://www.explorat…] of Mercury helps flatten [ http://www.planetar…] tall structures like high crater walls. MESSENGER [ http://messenger.jh…] was able to take over 1,000 images of Mercury which will be beamed back to Earth for planetary geologists [ http://en.wikipedia…] to study. The robotic MESSENGER spacecraft is scheduled [ http://www.nasa.gov…] to fly past Mercury twice more before firing its thrusters to enter orbit in 2011.
Explanation
What would it look like to fly past Mercury? Just such an adventure was experienced last week by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its first flyby [ http://messenger.jh…] of the strange moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]-like world nearest the Sun. Pictured above [ http://messenger.jh…] is the limb of Mercury [ http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Mercury_(pl anet) ] seen by MESSENGER [ http://en.wikipedia…] upon approach, from about 1 1/2 Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] diameters away. Visible on the hot and barren planet are many craters [ http://liftoff.msfc…], many appeared to be more shallow than similarly sized craters on the Moon. The comparatively high gravity [ http://www.explorat…] of Mercury helps flatten [ http://www.planetar…] tall structures like high crater walls. MESSENGER [ http://messenger.jh…] was able to take over 1,000 images of Mercury which will be beamed back to Earth for planetary geologists [ http://en.wikipedia…] to study. The robotic MESSENGER spacecraft is scheduled [ http://www.nasa.gov…] to fly past Mercury twice more before firing its thrusters to enter orbit in 2011.
