Mercury Flyby 3 |
Mercury Flyby 3 |
Jul 3 2009, 09:27 PM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1018 Joined: 29-November 05 From: Seattle, WA, USA Member No.: 590 |
We're now just one Mercury year (88 days) from flyby #3, which happens on September 29, 2009, so this seems like a good time to start a thread about it.
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.php For comparison purposes, it'd be nice if someone (probably someone on the Messenger team) put together a Mercury Map showing what areas will get better coverage from this flyby than from the previous ones. I realize it'll be very similar to flyby #1, but it won't be exactly the same. After that, it's a long wait until MOI on March 18, 2011. Curiously, that's the same date the New Horizons crosses the orbit of Uranus. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/passingpla...ets_current.php --Greg |
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Jul 8 2009, 11:32 PM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 146 Joined: 31-October 08 Member No.: 4473 |
It will also be interesting if any stereo-pair frames are shceduled.
Any further word on the search for "Vulcanoids"? --Mark G. |
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Jul 9 2009, 02:49 PM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 202 Joined: 9-September 08 Member No.: 4334 |
Probably a dumb question, but what are Vulcanoids - Mercury-crossing asteroids?
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Jul 12 2009, 04:21 PM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 146 Joined: 31-October 08 Member No.: 4473 |
Probably a dumb question, but what are Vulcanoids - Mercury-crossing asteroids? There is a Wikipedia, but the short answer is that Vulcanoids are a purported group of small bodies orbiting inside Mercury's orbit. Messenger can look for them when at perigee -- looking at an angle away from the sun, but still look at space inside Mercury's orbit. |
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Jul 14 2009, 07:04 AM
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#5
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
By the way, this year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Le Verrier's first study of the "intramercurial planet" and of Lescarbault's observed transit of Vulcan across the Sun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_(hypothetical_planet)
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