MESSENGER News Thread, news, updates and discussion |
MESSENGER News Thread, news, updates and discussion |
Apr 27 2015, 04:42 PM
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#496
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2106 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
Monday release has more info:
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/scienc...p;image_id=1594 QUOTE The image is located just inside the southern rim of Chong Chol crater, named for a Korean poet of the 1500s. It is challenging to obtain good images when the spacecraft is very low above the planet, because of the high speed at which the camera's field of view is moving across the surface. Very short exposure times are used to limit smear, and this image was binned from its original size of 1024 x 1024 pixels to 512 x 512 to improve the image quality.
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Apr 27 2015, 06:21 PM
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#497
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
I noticed the soft edges too...very lunar in appearance at this scale. Wonder if that means that micrometeoroid flux is more or less the same in Mercury's region as it is out here. Morphology on an airless body where impact cratering is the only major factor should tell us about the distribution of impactor sizes (by "impactor" I include everything from mountain-sized to dust), but not their flux. If you decreased flux 5x across the whole distribution or increased it 5x, you'd get the same appearance. So what we seem to be seeing is that the size distribution of impactors is lunar-like. |
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Apr 28 2015, 03:05 AM
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#498
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
I have also read that the Moon is at saturation when it comes to craters at the sizes of 5 meters and below. That means that continuing cratering doesn't add more craters at any greater rate than it erases old craters such that the crater population becomes relatively stable. I would guess that's true for Mercury, also.
-the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Apr 29 2015, 06:46 PM
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#499
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Member Group: Members Posts: 544 Joined: 17-November 05 From: Oklahoma Member No.: 557 |
Time to begin the death watch for MESSENGER.
Tomorrow As of this moment MESSENGER is 3921 days from launch, has spent 1503 days in orbit around Mercury and has completed 4101 orbits. Since it takes 8 hours to orbit, and the team hasn't narrowed the time frame down from simply April 30 as far as I know, I would guess that the spacecraft has between two and five orbits to go yet. |
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Apr 29 2015, 10:24 PM
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#500
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Just now on FB:
"Well my lithobraking will occur tomorrow @ 3:26pm EDT". That would be 30 Apr/1926 GMT. Gonna miss this great little mission. -------------------- 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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Apr 30 2015, 12:12 AM
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#501
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2106 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
Estimated impact location:
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/scienc...p;image_id=1602 At least it should not be too hard for Bepi-Colombo to find whatever remains... |
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Apr 30 2015, 12:28 AM
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#502
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IMG to PNG GOD Group: Moderator Posts: 2254 Joined: 19-February 04 From: Near fire and ice Member No.: 38 |
An amazingly successful mission that will be missed. I always find it a bit sad when a perfectly working spacecraft runs out of fuel, resulting in end of mission - usually immediately but MESSENGER has been an exception from that rule.
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Apr 30 2015, 11:10 AM
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#503
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Member Group: Members Posts: 933 Joined: 4-September 06 From: Boston Member No.: 1102 |
Thanks MESSENGER team. Great mission which has been fantastically successful in science and outreach.
-------------------- |
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Apr 30 2015, 01:13 PM
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#504
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
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Apr 30 2015, 03:34 PM
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#505
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Member Group: Members Posts: 544 Joined: 17-November 05 From: Oklahoma Member No.: 557 |
MESSENGER is on its way down now to join with its planet and rest from its labors.
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Apr 30 2015, 03:38 PM
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#506
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Member Group: Members Posts: 201 Joined: 16-December 13 Member No.: 7067 |
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Apr 30 2015, 03:56 PM
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#507
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 71 Joined: 3-February 11 Member No.: 5800 |
Thank you MESSENGER and team.
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Apr 30 2015, 05:31 PM
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#508
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Member Group: Members Posts: 102 Joined: 8-August 12 Member No.: 6511 |
For 4.3 billion years Mercury has spun through space, alone, unaffected by anything but the mindless physical universe: gravity, heat, the solar wind, the dynamics of its own orbit. Now, suddenly, life is going to reach out from millions of miles away, and leave a mark. A dent, a ding, a tiny nick, invisible from any great distance. But for the first time ever, the innermost planet will feel the touch of consciousness.
Condolences and profound congratulations to the MESSENGER team. Doug M. |
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Apr 30 2015, 08:25 PM
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#509
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Member Group: Members Posts: 205 Joined: 14-April 06 From: Seattle, WA Member No.: 745 |
... and so it is done!
I thought this was a poignant image released by JPL: Details of MESSENGER's Resting Place Congratulations to all! |
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Apr 30 2015, 08:38 PM
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#510
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 65 Joined: 19-November 14 From: Milan, Italy Member No.: 7340 |
MESSENGER's last shot of Mercury, acquired today April 30th: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/scienc...p;image_id=1596
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