MESSENGER News Thread, news, updates and discussion |
MESSENGER News Thread, news, updates and discussion |
Apr 20 2005, 11:22 AM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 562 Joined: 29-March 05 Member No.: 221 |
Launched on August 3rd 2004, NASA's MESSENGER will become the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.
News and updates are availbale via Johns Hopkins University MESSENGER website and the Kennedy Space Center's MESSENGER website. There will be an earth flyby in August followed by a couple of swings by Venus and three velocity scrubbing passages past mecury before the craft enters orbit in March 2011. April 18, 2005 status report from JHU. Extensive JHU FAQs page here. |
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Jun 6 2007, 09:56 AM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
"...I think one issue is that we "experientialists" like to see true color images, but they have little scientific value at Venus. ..."
Eye candy, maybe, but don't knock the possibility. Messenger should periodically take a few sets of images using ALL spectral filters to map out the contrast of features in the clouds as a function of wavelength and look for wavelength varying features. Mariner 10 took a very few sets of full disc UV, Blue and Orange filtered images. In the best set, the orange image showed a distinct dark band near the south polar collar, and a relatively bright collar. That dark band was NOT distinct in the UV image, just another dark band. It was darker in the blue image than other markings which were much weaker than in the UV. There are more than one absorber in the clouds, and weak though the contrasts may be, seeing features change with wavelength is scientifically important. The near IR features Galileo saw were deeper and almost entirely uncorrelated with the UV/Blue features in the matching shortwave image. |
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Jun 7 2007, 07:39 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
"...I think one issue is that we "experientialists" like to see true color images, but they have little scientific value at Venus. ..." Eye candy, maybe, but don't knock the possibility. Messenger should periodically take a few sets of images using ALL spectral filters to map out the contrast of features in the clouds as a function of wavelength and look for wavelength varying features. Very true. I particularly would enjoy seeing movies of approach in the same true color bands by the same equipment, so that Messenger could give us comparable products for three different planets. It would be some seriously impressive eye candy if after NH, we could generate realistic flyby videos of the big nine planets -- maybe Ceres and Vesta, too. That'd make a memorable video montage. |
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Jun 7 2007, 08:12 PM
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#4
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
Do you mean DAWN?
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