mercury flyby - messenger 14-1-2008

Capt'n Midnight

first time in 33 years
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/mer_flyby1.html

On January 14, 2008, more than three decades after the third Mariner 10 flyby, the last spacecraft visit of Mercury, MESSENGER passed 200 kilometers above Mercury's surface. Extensive scientific observations were executed during this flyby encounter, including imaging a large portion of Mercury's surface that had never before been seen by a spacecraft.

no updated maps yet then again the flyby was at 25,700 Kpm

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/

Altogether, MESSENGER acquired over 1200 images of Mercury, which the science team members are now examining in detail to learn about the history and evolution of the innermost planet.

On January 14, 2008, the MESSENGER spacecraft observed about half of the hemisphere missed by Mariner 10. This image was snapped by the Wide Angle Camera, part of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) instrument, about 80 minutes after MESSENGER's closest approach to Mercury (2:04 pm EST), when the spacecraft was at a distance of about 27,000 kilometers (about 17,000 miles). The image shows features as small as 10 kilometers (6 miles) in size. This image was taken through a filter sensitive to light near the red end of the visible spectrum (750 nm), one of a sequence of images taken through each of MDIS’s 11 filters.

Kevster

Exciting mission, but not as much as the Cassini-Huygens one which I followed every day. That image [of Mercury] has been my desktop wallpaper for a few days now. My mam thought it was the moon when she first saw it. They do kind of look alike.

ESA are launching a probe to land on Mercury in around 2012 I think too.