January 30th, 2008
Viewing Mercury
Posted by
chrislintott in
Mercury
I spent Monday helping film the next Sky at Night, which is all about the MESSENGER mission to the planet Mercury. How could it not be? It’s shown us part of a planet (a real planet, not this Pluto nonsense) that we have never seen before. The first results have been stunning; at first glance it’s a world that looks like the Moon, but in detail it’s very different.
There’s a press conference going on now which you can watch online and I’ll write about everything they announce that didn’t make it into the program tomorrow.
on January 30th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Just thought I would get in quick and say hi to Laurele who is bound to want to comment after that slight on Pluto
Emily has a nice post with an image of Pluto as seen by New Horizons.
on February 2nd, 2008 at 6:51 pm
A new image from Messenger has shown that Mercury actually has some slight coloration - there are faint pinks and blues, showing that it’s not just like the Moon after all. Also, a strange feature dubbed ‘the spider’, an ancient volcano, has been beautifully imaged ( http://blogearth.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/mercury-the-planet-with-a-spider/ )
This mission has really got me interested in Mercury. Can’t wait until the next flyby in October!
on October 24th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Hi, Stuart; this is a very belated response, as I had not seen your comment until now, but thank you for thinking of me and for the link to the image of Pluto! Mercury is cool too; they’re both planets. It’s not a question of either/or but both/and.