MESSENGER News Thread, news, updates and discussion |
MESSENGER News Thread, news, updates and discussion |
Mar 11 2012, 12:06 PM
Post
#406
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 316 Joined: 1-October 06 Member No.: 1206 |
Is there any indication that these features are more common at the 'heat pole' longitude?
P |
|
|
Mar 12 2012, 04:35 PM
Post
#407
|
|
Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10226 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Not yet - only very preliminary results on global distribution have been reported so far, but it will take the full mission's worth of high resolution imaging to get a feel for the real distribution.
Phil Stooke -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PDF: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
|
|
Mar 17 2012, 05:07 PM
Post
#408
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 495 Joined: 12-February 12 Member No.: 6336 |
Some of those raised blobs in the crater look like the result of surface tension - something that you might see after a spill of molten metal had solidified. Yes I noted the similarity also for the crater image. Tin have quite some surface tension and if poured on a plate it can look almost like that. The scale here is different though, what is interesting is that these can be found in various kinds of terrain as ngunn pointed out. I am somewhat inclined to think of this as a result of sublimation not of a single element but a composite. And thank you Phil Stooke, yes it will take a lot more images, though I understand that Messenger will not imagine any larger part of Mercury in high resolution. Not that I am complaining, Messenger have revealed quite some interesting facts about Mercury already. |
|
|
Mar 17 2012, 06:59 PM
Post
#409
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1592 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
yes it will take a lot more images, though I understand that Messenger will not imagine any larger part of Mercury in high resolution. Not that I am complaining, Messenger have revealed quite some interesting facts about Mercury already. Not exactly true... http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=195 QUOTE "The eight-hour orbit will provide 50% more low-altitude observation opportunities of Mercury's north polar regions, including permanently shadowed craters," explains MESSENGER Mission Design Lead Jim McAdams of APL. "A one-third reduction in maximum altitude relative to the 12-hour orbit will enable higher-resolution imaging of the southern hemisphere." I think what's not said there is that it's (I think) still hitting perihermion at the same pole as before, but resolution will improve at both poles. |
|
|
Apr 2 2012, 04:23 AM
Post
#410
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 291 Joined: 29-December 05 From: Ottawa, ON Member No.: 624 |
|
|
|
Apr 2 2012, 04:25 AM
Post
#411
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 291 Joined: 29-December 05 From: Ottawa, ON Member No.: 624 |
I read the full text, yep, not impressed.
|
|
|
Apr 2 2012, 04:28 AM
Post
#412
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 291 Joined: 29-December 05 From: Ottawa, ON Member No.: 624 |
|
|
|
Apr 2 2012, 04:38 AM
Post
#413
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1592 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
I would've appreciated a low-res death star.
|
|
|
Apr 2 2012, 04:44 AM
Post
#414
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 220 Joined: 13-October 05 Member No.: 528 |
I thought it was most ammusing. Particularly the mission name Min-C (play on Max-C for those who don't religously follow Mars Exploration Program)
The science world benefits from a good sense of humor. Thanks guys, it made my day. |
|
|
Apr 2 2012, 11:04 AM
Post
#415
|
|
Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10226 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
It's Ida.
Maybe not the greatest April Fools joke ever, but not bad. Check out the Google Lunar X Prize website where the part Time Scientists proposed to create a lunar atmosphere so they could parachute to the surface. Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PDF: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
|
|
Apr 2 2012, 11:37 AM
Post
#416
|
|
Forum Contributor Group: Members Posts: 1374 Joined: 8-February 04 From: North East Florida, USA. Member No.: 11 |
H.O.A.X. was a bit of a clue too.
|
|
|
Apr 2 2012, 01:42 PM
Post
#417
|
|
The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
We're quick to criticise scientists who are po-faced and don't engage with the public. I say well done to the MESSENGER people behind this skit; makes space exploration much more human!
-------------------- |
|
|
Apr 2 2012, 02:30 PM
Post
#418
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 198 Joined: 2-March 05 From: Richmond, VA USA Member No.: 181 |
Great laugh! I love the Armageddonish physics of MIN-C along with the final if-all-else-fails face-palm giveaway of the Hermean On-surface Analysis with X-rays mission. Golden.
-- Pertinax |
|
|
Apr 17 2012, 04:35 PM
Post
#419
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1592 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=214
QUOTE This maneuver – which adjusted the orbital period from 11 hours, 36 minutes to 9 hours, 5 minutes – was designed to deplete the remaining oxidizer of the spacecraft’s propulsion system in a final firing of the large bi-propellant thruster. A second maneuver, scheduled for the evening of April 20, will use the spacecraft’s monopropellant system to complete the transition to an 8-hour orbit. There goes the big engine... |
|
|
Apr 20 2012, 01:50 PM
Post
#420
|
||
Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10226 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Today's MESSENGER picture of the day is a pair of craters in the north polar Goethe basin. Here I have enhanced subtle features in the shadows, visible in light reflected off the sunlit northern crater wall. With the raw data much more will be possible. This is being done with Vesta as well, revealing details in the northern latitudes we would not see otherwise.
Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PDF: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
|
|
||
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 24th September 2024 - 01:47 AM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |