NASA probe returns first-ever orbiter photo of Mercury

NASA probe returns first-ever orbiter photo of Mercury

www.scientificamerican.com

A NASA spacecraft has captured the first-ever image of Mercury taken from orbit around the planet. MESSENGER, which on March 17 became the first space probe to orbit Mercury, the innermost world of the solar system, snapped its first photo of the diminutive, cratered planet at 5:20 A.M. (Eastern Daylight Time) on March 29. Near the top of the image [at left; click to enlarge] is Debussy Crater, one of the most prominent features on Mercury.

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Much of the cartography of Mercury was, and some still is, unknown. In the first picture received today a large section of it had never been mapped!

NASA plans for MESSENGER [for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging] to remain around Mercury for at least a year. It will be mapping in detail and inestigating the magnetosphere and chemical aspects of the planet.


www.scientificamerican.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Great photo. Reminds me of the moon.
Just waiting for someone to spot alien bases.

First ever picture of Mercury

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d8dc75a32575.jpg[/atsimg]

Is it really that expensive to attach a color camera to this billion dollar orbiter? I have a few old camera phones I could give them for the next one they build. Either way good post s + f


Deebo

Just to add, now is a good time to read
Cilia-of-Gold by Stephen Baxter if
anyone is interested in theoretical or
speculative sci-fi.

reply to post by don rumsfeld

Great photo. Reminds me of the moon. Just waiting for someone to spot alien bases.

come on now everyone knows its outrageous to believe that aliens have bases on Mercury!!!

...Its too hot there... instead they set up their bases on Earth, our Moon and Mars

Wow, Mercury has taken a battering!

Crater pfffft we all know that it is one of the Illuminati's DUMB's exposed here for the first time!

The Debussy Crater certainly is a "prominent feature of Mercury". Judging by all the ejecta radiating around & away from the crater, that must have been an enormous impact, when whatever it was that made the crater slammed into the planet!

Desolate, but somehow beautiful anyway... S&F, thanks for posting this.

is there 2 faces in that picture?

1 looks like Jesus on his side.

the other a pirate maybe.

goto the left of the white spot

How could NASA have missed this? I was taking another look at the photo of Mercury, when my eye was caught by the area highlighted below in red:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f6cd6edb5e47.gif[/atsimg]

I enlarged the area, & enhanced it a bit, to show the rear propulsion jet of an alien space ship, sticking up from the surface after the force of its crash-landing left it partially buried!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/07d59e4edb7f.gif[/atsimg]

The complete lack of any remaining visible ejecta points to a date for the crash that must be thousands of years in the past. This is a revision of my earlier estimate, which was the early 1950's, as suggested by the "Flash Gordon" style of rocketry demonstrated by the propulsion nozzle.

Originally posted by Aquarius1
First ever picture of Mercury

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d8dc75a32575.jpg[/atsimg]

That image kind of reminds me of a documentary I saw a while back where they were discussing how to remove asteroids. They came up with an idea to have a big robotic claw-type thing which connected the asteroid and kind of hugged it with big claws.

reply to post by BuzzCory


Which reminds me
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Looks like it's not the first and possibly not the last either..

seems the only thing we're going to get out of this orbiting camera are slightly better images..
I hope we get to learn some really interesting stuff out of this event..

ETA; You'll find a much closer zoom of that portion of the picture here;
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Deebo


Agreed, we have already seen that a bunch of amateurs can get just as good or even better photos from our earths atmosphere with a budget of less than a $100, yet NASA a muti billion dollar agency can only give us crappy black and white images (I wonder why) ? unless of course they have something to hide - There I said it!

Granted mercury is further away but ........you know where I am coming from.

reply to post by franspeakfree


Except that when it comes to Mercury, it is extremely difficult to image this planet for amateur and professional astronomers alike because it is always close to the sun. Mercury has a greatest elongation from the sun of about 28 degrees and minimum elongation of about 18 degrees, which means that it is only it the sky two hours before sunrise and two hours after sunset. This makes good viewing of the planet only possible a couple times a year, which is why there was a probe sent to it.

Perhaps people should do some research before automatically declaring a conspiracy to hide some fantastical alien civilization.

is this the first picture of mercury?

wasnt mercury mapped before..not all of it..but a big part??

NASA and any PROPER science agency for that matter, should get our tax money versus any programs that create dependance on the goverment. Exploring the unknown and pushing ourselves past the limits of knowledge is what being human means. Not eating cheetos and watching re-runs of crap reality shows from our couches.

reply to post by joyride0187


Couldn't have said it better myself. Not to mention the money & materials spent on all our wars... How much has been spent on the war in the Middle-East to date?
Wonder what planet that much sponduli could get us to.

this source states that half of th planet was photographed in detail..

Prior to MESSENGER's arrival at Mercury, only half the planet had ever been seen in any detail.

www.scientificamerican.com...

why certain news agencies are calling it the first ever?

Peeling Mercury's LayersCredit: Karl Tate, SPACE.comMercury is the closest planet to the sun and has a thin atmosphere, no air pressure and an extremely high temperature. Take a look inside the planet
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2ece8210e94b.jpg[/atsimg]

Take a look at the amazing slideshow at the link, there have been at least 365 photos taken and am looking forward to more.

www.space.com...