MESSENGER ARRIVES, Mercury Orbit Insertion |
MESSENGER ARRIVES, Mercury Orbit Insertion |
Mar 18 2011, 08:57 AM
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#31
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Member Group: Members Posts: 154 Joined: 21-April 05 From: Rochester, New York, USA Member No.: 336 |
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Mar 18 2011, 09:36 AM
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#32
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
Emily has made an absolutely gorgeous pic for her blog, showing Mercury's size compared to other familiar bodies in the solar system... Indeed, a very nice comparison. But we already know of two other bodies in that size range, namely Pluto and Eris, making a total of 10. |
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Mar 18 2011, 09:57 AM
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#33
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
True, but we haven't got very good images of those to use, tho.
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Mar 18 2011, 11:38 AM
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#34
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Member Group: Members Posts: 813 Joined: 29-December 05 From: NE Oh, USA Member No.: 627 |
unmanned spacecraft in orbit...
how did I miss the worldlets????? Eros and possibly Itokawa.... must be my age... and the beer. Thanks for the corrections folks. The Eyes on the Solar System site had a terrific simulation.... really felt like I was riding along as I listened to the webcast. Terrific experience... Kudos all ..... Craig |
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Mar 18 2011, 01:07 PM
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#35
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Member Group: Members Posts: 754 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 1700 |
Emily's survey is great! I felt proud to recognize each orb, like a bunch of old friends.
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Mar 18 2011, 01:58 PM
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#36
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
like a bunch of old friends. I used to have friends like that; remote, lonely, frigid, two-faced, endlessly going in circles, still showing the obvious scars that impacted them long ago. Sure there was always at least one hot one, but she'd usually be prone to eruptions. Since then I found UMSF and a whole new universe of friends. -------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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Mar 18 2011, 01:59 PM
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#37
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
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Mar 18 2011, 02:11 PM
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#38
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Member Group: Members Posts: 796 Joined: 27-February 08 From: Heart of Europe Member No.: 4057 |
Congratulation to the MESSENGER team!
I used to have friends like that; remote, lonely, frigid, two-faced, endlessly going in circles, still showing the obvious scars that impacted them long ago. Sure there was always at least one hot one, but she'd usually be prone to eruptions. Since then I found UMSF and a whole new universe of friends. -------------------- |
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Mar 18 2011, 02:43 PM
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#39
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
VERY proud that the MESSENGER team used a new poem I wrote for them, marking MOI...
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/mer_orbit.html (bottom right) -------------------- |
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Mar 18 2011, 03:54 PM
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#40
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Member Group: Members Posts: 212 Joined: 19-July 05 Member No.: 442 |
Congratulations to NASA!
I'm eagerly awaiting the first light photo from orbit... |
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Mar 18 2011, 04:32 PM
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#41
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
Fantastic news! And if you haven't seen it already, Emily has made an absolutely gorgeous pic for her blog, showing Mercury's size compared to other familiar bodies in the solar system... http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002965 I'm glad you liked that; I'm pleased with how it turned out, though of course it looks good mostly because of Ted's excellent processing work. It's wonderful what matching phase angles and lighting directions will do to improve the feel of a montage. I spent half an hour discussing that image with my girls' babysitter last night -- a fun conversation Indeed, a very nice comparison. But we already know of two other bodies in that size range, namely Pluto and Eris, making a total of 10. As Stu said, we don't have images of those! --but in the text and caption I did make an error about how these were all the things in the solar system between 2000 and 6000 km across -- should've stuck with 2500-6000 and I'd've been correct; or just left Triton off and left it at 3000-6000. I have a massive cheat sheet above my desk that I use to do quick size comparisons, but I don't have the KBOs on there yet because I'm still working on hunting down the best estimates of their sizes. I have got to finish that project. Emily's survey is great! I felt proud to recognize each orb, like a bunch of old friends. Me too The challenge for us uber-geeks is to know just from looking at them which spacecraft was responsible for each image. -------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Mar 18 2011, 04:59 PM
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#42
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
-but in the text and caption I did make an error about how these were all the things in the solar system between 2000 and 6000 km across -- should've stuck with 2500-6000 and I'd've been correct; or just left Triton off and left it at 3000-6000. It isn't an error - all are in that range. -------------------- |
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Mar 18 2011, 06:14 PM
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#43
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Belated congrats after a long night of work to the MESSENGER team for their own many, many long nights of work that resulted in not only a spectacular success but a truly historical achievement.
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Mar 18 2011, 07:10 PM
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#44
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Member Group: Members Posts: 293 Joined: 29-August 06 From: Columbia, MD Member No.: 1083 |
I was in the studio audience last night and I want to give kudos to APL for putting on a very entertaining and informative show. Pretty amazing that by July we'll have spacecraft orbiting 8 solar system bodies (Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Vesta and Saturn). Too bad MESSENGER probably won't be around in 2016 when Juno arrives at Jupiter to make it 9!
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Mar 18 2011, 07:21 PM
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#45
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Me too The challenge for us uber-geeks is to know just from looking at them which spacecraft was responsible for each image. A challenge indeed, considering Ted's great skill at reprocessing data from older missions! Okay, I'll take a shot, from left to right (the last one is a gimmie, though): Messenger, Clementine, Cassini, Galileo, Galileo, Voyager 1, Cassini, Voyager 2. <braces for humiliation>... (And congratulations to Stu for his terrific poem posted on Messenger's most special day.... ) -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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