Mercury Flyby 1 Options

[MarsIsImportant]

40 days and counting. The long wait is almost over!

I wonder whether we will get enough data to test new simulation theories like this one.

http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19...solar-wind.html

What do you expect from this first flyby?

[As old as Voyage...]

Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing MESSENEGER's MDIS images.

On Jan 14 MDIS will first see Mercury as a crescent showing previously mapped territory. After the flyby MDIS will take images of the planet in a gibbous phase showing 25% 'new' territory and the huge Caloris impact basin will be visible near the centre of the disc.

Plus, after the encounter and travelling at 140,000 mph, MESSENGER will be the fastest spacecraft of all time!

It should be a real day to remember!

[monitorlizard]

[.....]

I think the most exciting thing we have some chance of seeing would be evidence of endogenic activity--volcanic flows, maybe even cinder cones or vents, something to indicate Mercury was once active. Some small volcanic flows were seen by Mariner 10, more would certainly be interesting.

[edstrick]

Mariner 10 had terribly limited color imaging.. Orange, blue, and UV filters, beside "minus blue" (yellow) and clear.
It also had an attitude control deadband that was nearly the field of view of the imaging system, so it's targeting tended to wander around rather drunkenly. The result is that Mariner 10 color mapping was limited, mostly low resolution hemispheric data, and only somewhat useful. Heroic image processing efforts by (I think) Mark Robinson have gotten really useful information out of it, but it's still pretty limited.

This flyby will give multispectral mapping far superiour to Mariner 10's, and will also have near-infrared imaging/spectal mapping that we essentially don't have any of yet. (I haven't dug into what the capabilities of the instruments are)

I expect that beside other interesting results from the first flyby, this will provide a real revolution in understanding crustal diversity and it's geologic history.

[tedstryk]

Heroic image processing efforts by (I think) Mark Robinson have gotten really useful information out of it, but it's still pretty limited.

That is correct. Also, there heaters that were supposed to control the temperature of the vidicon failed, which made calibration impossible at the time. Using modern computers, Robinson was able to calibrate the data.

[MarsIsImportant]

From wikipedia...

The mission is designed to shed light on six key issues: Mercury’s high density, its geological history, the nature of its magnetic field, the structure of its core, whether it really has ice at its poles, and where its tenuous atmosphere comes from. To this end, the probe is carrying imaging devices which will gather much higher resolution images of much more of the planet than Mariner 10, assorted spectrometers to determine abundances of elements in the crust, and magnetometers and devices to measure velocities of charged particles. Detailed measurements of tiny changes in the probe’s velocity as it orbits will be used to infer details of the planet’s interior structure.[37]

So which of these six key issues will light be shed upon during the 1st flyby?

P.S. 35 days and counting!

[JRehling]

[...]

[nprev]

The most exciting features I could anticipate might be some long-dead cinder cones as there are on the Moon. (Still, I actually would find that pretty exciting... ) Doubt that they'll see any during the flybys, though.

[Holder of the Tw...]

I expect the magnetometer data to provide some helpful hints as to what is causing that magnetic field.

[IM4]

Simple Celestia perspective : Mercury as seen after flyby. Composite texture adopted from original Stooke map = Mariner (BW) + Arecibo radar mapping (color contrasted).

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[MarsIsImportant]

This is an animation of the January 14th, 2008 Messenger Flyby of Mercury.

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/mo...0sc%20od095.mov

It shows the spacecraft will get as close as 200 km from the surface. We should get some good images. However, the animation seems to suggest a kind of equatorial trajectory. So perhaps we won't get an immediate answer about the possibility of water ice at the poles. Yet we should get a good chunk of the planet imaged that has not been seen before, close-up at least.

[JRehling]

[...]

[MarsIsImportant]

Well, it has been about 33 years since the last measurement of Mercury's magnet field. I would assume that the best science on this flyby will be from the Magnetometer.

The really good image operation will be very short indeed. It should last only 10 to 15 minutes for some close-up visuals once the spacecraft comes out from behind the planet. The imaging could start at 4000 km from the surface and continue as the spacecraft recedes. But the exciting part is that that part of Mercury has not been imaged close-up before. Granted, it is not at the closest approach of 200 km; but 4000 km is good.

Despite the visuals we might get, I'm more excited about the potential for Mapping out Mercury's Magnetic Field. I'm afraid a single pass is not good enough to do that with a high degree of confidence; but I'm hoping we will get a few surprises that will give us a much better model than we currently have.

[Rob Pinnegar]

Yeah, that magnetic field is sure to be one of the show-stoppers.

I wonder: will we be able to get stuff like quadrupole moment out of the first flyby? We got that sort of information out of the Voyager flybys of Uranus and Neptune, so I guess there's some chance, at least.

It'll also be interesting to compare this data set with the data from the next two flybys. But we'll have to wait for that.

[JRehling]

[...]

[Rob Pinnegar]

Actually, my first guess is that Mercury's slow rotation should actually make it easier to map the magnetosphere, and pick up stuff like quadrupole moment. The "nearly-stationary" nature of the field should make it much easier to disentangle rotational effects from translational effects.

[peter59]

MESSENGER’s nineteenth trajectory-correction maneuver (TCM-19) completed on December 19 lasted 110 seconds and adjusted the spacecraft's velocity by 1.1 meters per second (3.6 feet per second). The movement targeted the spacecraft close to the intended aim point 200 km (124 miles) above the night-side surface of Mercury for the probe's first flyby of that planet on January 14, 2008.

MESSENGER ZEROS IN ON MERCURY

[peter59]

New animation of MESSENGER's flyby of Mercury that shows the specific instrument operations planned during the encounter.

Mercury Flyby 1

[tedstryk]

Sweet!

[volcanopele]

Very nice! Looks like there will some very nice mosaic designs during this encounter.

And I think they did a very good job with this visualization by freezing the frames for a few seconds so you can clearly see the mosaics and where they will be.

[ugordan]

Wow, that's going to be a LOT of frames!

Great visualization, only thing it misses is event timecodes. Reminds me of Voyager Uranus/Neptune flyby animations a bit.

[volcanopele]

LOL, I've been working on image processing for too long. As I watch this video, I start thinking about which images would I process first (likely the full-disk WAC mosaic after the Northern hemisphere NAC mosaic), and what order I would process these mosaics in. Looks like the NAC mosaics are composed of single filter frames, which simplifies things quite a bit.

[tedstryk]

I am looking forward to seeing the rest of Caloris. This is a rough mosaic using this image set I posted earlier and the high-res map coverage (I am on my way out the door for the holidays, so I didn't have much time to work), but it shows the extent of Mariner 10's coverage (I probably could have found some images that were somewhat better just beyond the limb, but, like I said, I am on my way out the door).

[MarsIsImportant]

Wow! There will be a lot more visual camera mosaics than I thought.

Looking at the timeline and the scientific instruments involved in this Flyby, there is going to be a lot of atmospheric analysis with the UV scanner from the MASCS, especially upon approach while there is just a cresent Mercury visible. Wide angle and narrow angle mosaics will still be made upon approach. Upon closest approach at 200 km, there will be Visual/IR/UV surface spectroscopy of the dark side of Mercury. The wide angle camera will be turned back on around 2000 km in altitude to do color photometry. A High-resolution mosaic will begin with the narrow angle camera when the spacecraft gets near 3000 km in altitude. These high-resolution images will be of the equitorial region on the side of Mercury never seen close-up before. They will then do wide angle color imaging of the same and surrounding area. Then they will switch back to high-resolution and do the entire northern hemisphere that is visible. Switch back again to the wide angle camera and do the whole planet face. Then repeat with the narrow angle camera. The whole flyby sequence will be done in little more than an hour and a half.

I suppose the MAG will be taking measurements the entire time. I don't know where or when the EPPS will come into play; but it will probably be taking measurements too of any charged particles within the magnetosphere. I can hardly wait for clues to solar influence upon Mercury's magnetic field and their interaction.

It looks like this will be a science intensive flyby. There should be a lot of answers or at least clues to a lot of burning questions about Mercury. I'm even more excited now than I was a couple of weeks ago! And I can hardly wait for the eventual orbital insertion.

[edstrick]

"...all of which add up to the magnetic field being almost stationary while the craft flies through..."

Mariner 10, on one of the two night-side flyby's, got good data on the field configuration on the way in, but then was hit by a magnetosphere substorm on the way out, reducing the "fittabiility" of the data. The magnetic field is weak, the magnetosphere is small, and solar wind is strong.... the magnetosphere "does things fast"

[CAP-Team]

I'm curious who'll post the first new map of Mercury based on the new images of this first flyby

[nprev]

...we should start a pool! UMSF's imagesmiths are so talented that I know that they'll beat the USGS by several months. Heck, I'd be surprised if someone doesn't post a revised map later than 2 weeks after this encounter.

[4th rock from th...]

...This is a rough mosaic using this image set I posted earlier and the high-res map coverage...

Very nice Ted! The Mariner 10 dataset is hard to work with and you've pulled some nice data from it.
A can almost make out half of Caloris basin in your images!

[ugordan]

I'd be surprised if someone doesn't post a revised map later than 2 weeks after this encounter.

You both seem to be forgetting MESSENGER doesn't feature raw image pages like MER and Cassini does.

[nprev]

Didn't forget; actually, never knew. Bummer.

[Phil Stooke]

No, but any press release mosaics etc. could be reprojected fairly quickly.

APL does have a tiny history of daily release. Or did. Right back at the start of the NEAR approach to Eros, just before going into orbit, they said they would release all the images every day. And they actually did, while the asteroid was 10 pixels long or so. At that time I was downloading them and posting a few images on some usenet forum or some such place - whatever it was people did back then. I recall Calvin Hamilton asking me how I got the 16 bit images into Photoshop. Then he put out a few of his own. And then, just as Eros was getting big enough to be interesting, they chickened out and quit.

C'mon, APL, you can do it!

Phil

[JRehling]

[...]

[elakdawalla]

In terms of when images get released, a lot depends upon the PI, and from what I understand, this PI is not likely to permit the images to get posted immediately -- though of course I would be delighted to be wrong.

Anyway, this video is the final version of the one Louise showed me in August...

--Emily

[algorimancer]

...MESSENGER doesn't feature raw image pages...

It seems to me that it is in Nasa's own interest to encourage this sort of virtually free publicity - I would hope that a plan for public data sharing would be a factor in approving funding for missions.

[djellison]

Outreach is certainly part of the mission selection process. However, the rapid release of raw imagery in the MER/Cassini style is certainly not 'virtually free'. Just ask their web teams how much bandwidth they get through.

[nprev]

Yeah...it's easy to forget that it takes a lot of labor & resources to post pics in real time. Not every mission has this.

[MarsIsImportant]

If we are not pushy and the Messenger team knows about this audience, then they might be willing to give us what they can. The recent animations and interviews clips on their site happened in a timely manner. It is most appreciated and helpful. It almost seemed that they are aware of us. Perhaps they are. Or perhaps it was mere coincidence because of the upcoming flyby.

We didn't expect the MRO team to be so gracious with some of the images; yet they seem to have been. I can only hope that the Messenger team will also follow the MER team example to some extent or another and make public whatever is practical to do so.

[tfisher]

Just ask their web teams how much bandwidth they get through.

If it was purely a matter of bandwidth, I would expect they could get google to host for free. (I say google in particular because they most clearly among the internet giants display the attitude of being happy to undertake even expensive projects just to advance their image of being the premier repository of human knowledge, and they show a particular interest in helping the scientific community.) Of course, there are expenses to have a web team at all.

Still I think this kind of decision doesn't really come down to money. The PI and core science team have a strong motivation to try to maximize the amount of scientific credit they personally get, and openness with data is viewed as decreasing their advantage over competing scientists. I think that is still the real story.

[Rob Pinnegar]

The PI and core science team have a strong motivation to try to maximize the amount of scientific credit they personally get, and openness with data is viewed as decreasing their advantage over competing scientists. I think that is still the real story.

That's probably true, and a good way of addressing it would be to determine whether anyone on the Cassini team has lost credit for something because of the existence of the Raw Images page. If that hasn't happened, the Messenger team could rest a bit easier about it.

In addition, I don't recall having seen anything on UMSF that would indicate that our discussions here had taken anything away from the Cassini team. There have been a few occasions when things got posted and discussed here before they showed up on the Cassini web site, or in a conference abstract volume. These included the re-discovery of the ring spokes, and the changes in the D Ring. That didn't seem to have any really serious negative ramifications.

It's probably inevitable that, sooner or later, someone is going to try to jump the gun and take advantage of one of the Raw Images pages. But then they'd have to try to get it through peer review and that could pose problems for them. Anyone remember those guys who claimed to have found pools of water on Mars the other year?...

[mcaplinger]

I would hope that a plan for public data sharing would be a factor in approving funding for missions.

All missions have PDS data release requirements, and that's about it. While outreach is a factor in mission selection, it's a very tiny factor. And I suspect a better outreach plan than just dumping minimally-processed data with no explanation or commentary on the internet would be required to make it be a bigger factor.

[Doc]

Didn't forget; actually, never knew. Bummer.

Dont despair, I believe they will post the raw images in the same way they did with New Horizons.
It may take time though.
However, if they dont release the raw images....... well, at least we will enjoy the flyby itself. :-)

[scalbers]

Wonder if any images will be shown at this public reception?

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/RSVP/index.php

[gcecil]

Wonder if any images will be shown at this public reception?

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/RSVP/index.php

I was told by PI Sean Solomon that "The day of the flyby itself will have drama, but no data. Images and other data will not be downloaded from the spacecraft until several days following closest approach." So, Strom's talk will be a preview only. I've been invited up for some of the downlink; really looking forward to this bit of history making. From the visualization link posted up thread, you can infer that the laser altimeter will scan across the putative ramparts of the Skinakas basin (in the dark during this flyby). Of course, there is only limited radar altimetry of Mercury to provide context; the Harmon et al Arecibo images are insensitive to significant surface tilts.

Update [12/26]: Confirmed that no data will be on ground until 16th. Big data crunch 16-18, followed by press conference/release. Then plenty of people in Laurel MD for a couple of weeks of photo-geology.

[CAP-Team]

Does anyone know what the field of view of the Narrow Angle and the Wide Angle Camera is?

[peter59]

However, if they dont release the raw images....... well, at least we will enjoy the flyby itself. :-)

Now Messenger is 10 million kilometers from Mercury.

Power up your Imagination!


Mariner 10 six days before closest approach (03/23/74).
Image FDS0014342


Mariner 10 four days before closest approach (03/25/74).
Image FDS0019143


Mariner 10 two days before closest approach (03/27/74).
Image FDS0023285

[elakdawalla]

Does anyone know what the field of view of the Narrow Angle and the Wide Angle Camera is?

From http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/1305.pdf:

The Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) consists of wide-angle and narrow-angle imagers mounted on a pivot platform that enables the instrument to point in a different direction from the spacecraft boresight. The MDIS narrowangle camera (NAC) is monochromatic with a 1.5° field of view, while the wide-angle camera (WAC) has a 10.5° field of view and a set of 11 color filters (plus one broad-band filter) ranging from 415 nm to 1020 nm.

They both have 1024 by 1024 CCDs.

--Emily

[CAP-Team]

Based on Emily's data, this is how Messenger sees Mercury right now:

Narrow angle view:


Wide angle view:

[gcecil]

Can someone here please point me to updating orbital elements (TLE format) for MESSENGER's trajectory? Am I right that there is still no master repository of deep space heliocentric orbital elements? For that matter, such an archive should include fragments before and after various historical gravitational assists. Anything like that around? Thanks

[elakdawalla]

Does JPL's HORIZONS system give you what you're looking for?
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?horizons

--Emily

[simonbp]

Update [12/26]: Confirmed that no data will be on ground until 16th. Big data crunch 16-18, followed by press conference/release. Then plenty of people in Laurel MD for a couple of weeks of photo-geology.

Yeah, LPSC will probably the first real presentation of the results. Of course, abstracts are due next week, so they'll all be placeholders...

Simon

[gcecil]

Does JPL's HORIZONS system give you what you're looking for?
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?horizons

--Emily

Yes. I didn't realize that HORIZONS has spacecraft. Thank you. Now just need to convert these into TLE format.

[ustrax]

We're back...

http://spaceurope.blogspot.com/2008/01/mes...ry-flyby-1.html
http://spaceurope.blogspot.com/2008/01/mes...flyby-1_04.html

This is it for now.
I will not promise anything but...let's try to make of this return to Mercury a great party...

[Phil Stooke]

Some new visualizations are up on the MESSENGER page for this flyby.

Phil

[ustrax]

Some new visualizations are up on the MESSENGER page for this flyby.

Phil

Are you referring to the fantastic work done under the visualization tool? Astounding...magnificent outreach...

[NMRguy]

MESSENGER Mission News
January 7, 2008
MESSENGER Only One Week from Mercury

One week to go and fortunately no big surprises. Also, the mid-December trajectory correction maneuver (TCM-19) went so well that the scheduled January 10 maneuver will not be necessary. Data gathering should begin in two days. Very exciting times.


EDIT: I just noticed that on January 30 (1 p.m. EST.), there is a "NASA Space Science Update on the Mercury flyby" at NASA Headquarters. Is this the main science press release?

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Any chance they'll show something on NASA.TV ?

[NMRguy]

Apparently they will. Here's a link to the schedule.

NASA TV Schedule
January 30, Wednesday
1 p.m. - MESSENGER M1 Flyby News Conference - HQ (Public and Media Channels)

[NMRguy]

MESSENGER Mission News
January 8, 2008
Six Days from Mercury and Counting!

Rapid fire! Another update from MESSENGER team. Mission operators have sent commands to acquire nine sets of optical navigation images at Mercury. APL and the Planetary Society are also hosting a public reception on the evening of the encounter. The reception will include a talk by Robert G. Strom, a professor emeritus at The University of Arizona who was involved in Mariner 10 and is now a member of the MESSENGER Science Team. He'll "share his unique perspective on the significance of the MESSENGER mission." This might be of interest to those of you in the DC-area.

[JRehling]

[...]

[Stu]

While we wait for new images to start coming in, I thought I'd do a bit of Googling for existing images... these 3D views are pretty interesting...


Discovery Rupes in 3D


Renoir crater in 3D

[Stu]

Can someone help me get oriented here? I've always been fascinated by the Caloris Basin, and I'm looking forward to seeing it in more detail during the fly-by. So...



1. Have I labelled its location correctly in the top image (view pre-closest encounter)?

2. Where will Caloris Basin be on the images of Mercury we see post closest encounter? (if we're going to see it at all?)

Over to our magnificent map makers...

[lyford]

n00b question -

How does a spacecraft like Messenger slew back and forth rhythmically as in this video? Does that targeting use propellant or can gyros or something else produce that motion?

Or should I go search through the comments on the death of the scanning platform thread?

[Ian R]

Stu,

Check out the screenshot I've culled from the following animation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFCrvvn57AM



The Caloris basin (or half of it) is visible inside the green circle. Messenger will have a good look at it on the outbound leg of the encounter.

Ian

[JRehling]

[...]

[Stu]

Thanks guys, exactly what I wanted. Knew I could count on you.

[edstrick]

This will give a rather poor, high-sun-angle view of Caloris on the limb. Some basin ring relief may be visible on the limb. Color differences will be more visible than near the terminator, complementing the mariner 10 terminator data and some indications of chemical differences of the smooth and fractured plains filling the basin from ejecta, etc.

[ustrax]

Great explanation by Noam Izenberg about what will be the work done by MASCS and how this will occur.

[elakdawalla]

MESSENGER Team Receives First Optical Navigation Images

But don't get your hopes up; as far as I can tell, the news release doesn't actually include the images

EDIT: I've confirmed with the project that they don't plan to release the images until tomorrow's press conference.

--Emily

[nprev]

I was gonna say "odd", but that's cool; as long as they get released!

[CAP-Team]

The NAC images should look something like this:

[ustrax]

We have an happy team over there...Ralph McNutt words:
"We have a beautiful crescent of Mercury centered in the imager field of view!"

He's teasing us...isn't he?...

[Stu]

I know that at least one of the MESSENGER team has been lurking here for a while, so I'd just like to wish everyone involved with MESSENGER all the best for the fly-by next week.

Looking forward to those first images!

[ustrax]

MERCURY AHEAD!!!

[elakdawalla]

Press conference graphics

[PDP8E]

Here is the output of my hand written trajectory simulator mixed with some of JPL's tool along with some other software and jpegs I had lying around... Mercury!





Go Messenger!!

[belleraphon1]

Mercury Ahead indeed.

Really looking forward to this. Since the last flyby in 1975, my two children have grown to adult hood, and I am now a granfather. Hoping the space geek gene jumps a generation to infect my grandsons.

A long time to wait to complete the task of mapping Mercury...

Craig

[Holder of the Tw...]

Those press conference graphics that Emily linked to are pretty impressive. Just about everything you want to know.

[nprev]

Yeah (sigh)...I'm hoping that the spacebug gene skips a generation as well, Craig; if it isn't on "Entertainment Tonight", my daughter could care less.

MESSENGER is a huge milestone; by the time that the mission is completed, we will have mapped all of the classical planets (pre-1781) and their major moons, in our lifetimes. That is nothing short of astonishing, to say nothing of humbling. We're on our way...

[Holder of the Tw...]

I've noticed on the animations that some of the NAC images on approach are taken entirely within the night side. What's up with that? Is is possible for them to actually see anything in these? Maybe a bit of light from Venus on that part, but not much else.

[tedstryk]

I've noticed on the animations that some of the NAC images on approach are taken entirely within the night side. What's up with that? Is is possible for them to actually see anything in these? Maybe a bit of light from Venus, but not much else.

It may be to give them some margin of error in camera pointing. At such high resolution, a relatively small error (in terms of position) could wreck havoc on a mosaic.

While we were waiting, I figured I would post a link to my new Mariner-10 mosaic I posted in the Mariner-10 thread. I always wondered why Robinson's global mosaic for the receding side used much more distant frames than the approaching side, which is much larger. He did make a high resolution mosaic of this area, but with a lot of gaps and gores. After trying to work with the data myself, I understand why.


http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4070/ou...hires1f1yt9.jpg

[elakdawalla]

I think also it was easier for them to sequence, and then process, an m-by-n rectangular mosaic than to delete frames here and there from the rectangle; you might notice that in some of the post-flyby mosaics, there are several corner frames that shoot right off the disk into space.

Also, a while back, I asked Louise Prockter why they sequence them typewriter style -- do a row, carriage return, do the next row, carriage return -- rather than a more economical left-to-right then right-to-left back-and-forth sweeping. She said they investigated sequencing the mosaics that way, and it's just simpler for them to process and assemble mosaics built up typewriter-style than back-and-forth style, as it makes the variation among frames more consistent.

--Emily

[JRehling]

[...]

[gcecil]

It may be to give them some margin of error in camera pointing. At such high resolution, a relatively small error (in terms of position) could wreck havoc on a mosaic. ...

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4070/ou...hires1f1yt9.jpg

OR, maybe they might catch a small moon out of shadow? I recall from a DPS poster that there are some quasi-stable phase space, searched telescopically without success but with a high background level of course. You'd think "why not wait for orbit?", except that the illumination is different and most importantly because there are no guarantees orbit will be achieved. Get as much from the flybys as possible, no predicting the future.

Re satellites, I'm especially intrigued about an elongated oval feature evident in the radar images below Caloris, so well placed for this flyby (unfortunately in the Doppler ambiguous region so not included in Phil's MESSENGER radar base map). It is inclined only a bit from the equator. Perhaps a spun-down Phobos-like oblique impact? A long shot, but we'll see soon enough, hopefully.

[nprev]

That would be fascinating, but got my doubts. I'd be much more inclined to believe in possible small moons for Mercury if the planet was truly Sun-synchronous in rotation, but as-is and given the tremendous gravitational influence of the Sun (to say nothing of Mercury's orbital eccentricity) I just don't see it happening due to (however minute) tidal influences.

Would be delighted to be proven wrong, however! As I mentioned to another forum member in a private message, each first orbital mission around a planet has uncovered at least one surprise; can hardly wait to see what Mercury has in store for us.

[elakdawalla]

Today's obscure vocabulary word...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boustrophedon

Awesome. I knew there had to be a word for that. Boustrophedon. Now if only there would be more than two people in the audience who would understand it if I wrote it.

--Emily

[volcanopele]

Excellent. All future communications from me will now be written in that style.

[stevesliva]

Me
.oot

[peter59]

New image snapped with the Narrow Angle Camera, on January 10, 2008, when MESSENGER was a distance of just less than 2 million kilometers from Mercury.

Mercury - January 10, 2008

[tedstryk]

Here is a new version of the first image. The processing is heavy, so interpret with caution.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Bjorn Jonsson]

Getting closer. Hints of relief/craters visible, especially if you sharpen the image:

[ugordan]

Interesting, it's just starting to show irregularities in brightness of the crescent, i.e. hints that it's not a smooth globe.

EDIT: I see Bjorn beat me to it

[volcanopele]

LOL, looks like we all had the same idea. So far I could only identify one surface feature when comparing the image to the Mariner 10 basemaps:

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[tedstryk]

I processed both of them now.

[climber]

Not my idea actualy, but I hope Nasa will name a yet to be discovered feature on Mercury after Hillary (& Tenzing).
BTW, did you know that when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the Moon, it was on Hillary's 50th birthday !

[tedstryk]

Looks like our Poet Laureate has given voice to our first views from the vicinity of Mercury since the 1970s.

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/poem.html

[ustrax]

HOO-RAH!!!

[n1ckdrake]

Beautiful poem. Congrats Stu!

[Stu]

Thanks! I'm almost embarrassingly chuffed that they used it. I will never cease to be amazed by how generous and enthusiastic the people behind these multi-gazillion dollar/pound/euro missions are, how they take time from their busy schedules to answer emails from space cadets like me, and put things like that poem up on their official websites. I guess I'm still just that space mad kid who sat in a corner of the library at school reading the science books during breaktimes, when everyone else was outside kicking a ball around...

[belleraphon1]

Stu.... very nice...

You give value to all of us who spent their HS lunch hours buried in books and dreaming of climbing the worldtree.

Keep it up, sir.

Craig

[nprev]

Let me add my congratulations, Stu; that's just outstanding, we're all extremely proud of you!!!