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Astronomy Picture of the Day
NASA ^ | 1/16/08 | NASA

Posted on 01/16/2008 2:20:20 PM PST by sig226


MESSENGER Passes Mercury
Credit:
MESSENGER Teams, JHU APL, NASA

Explanation: Two days ago, the MESSENGER spacecraft became only the second spacecraft in human history to swoop past Mercury. The last spacecraft to visit the Sun's closest planet was Mariner 10 over 35 years ago. Mariner 10 was not able to photograph Mercury's entire surface, and the images it did send back raised many questions. Therefore, much about planet Mercury remains unknown. This week's flyby of MESSENGER was only the first of three flybys. Over the next few years MESSENGER will swing past twice more and finally enter Mercury's orbit in 2011. MESSENGER is currently moving too fast to enter orbit around Mercury now. The above image was taken two days ago during MESSENGER's flyby and shows part of Mercury's surface that has never been imaged in detail before. Many more MESSENGER will hopefully help scientists better understand how Mercury's surface was formed, and why it is so dense.


TOPICS: Astronomy Picture of the Day
KEYWORDS: apod
It's a dry heat.
1 posted on 01/16/2008 2:20:21 PM PST by sig226
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To: fnord; Number57; KevinDavis; rdb3; MNJohnnie; thoughtomator; RightWhale; proudofthesouth; ...

2 posted on 01/16/2008 2:21:04 PM PST by sig226 (New additions to the list of democrat criminals - see my profile)
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To: sig226

Looks like our moon to me.


3 posted on 01/16/2008 2:30:24 PM PST by jwparkerjr (Sigh . . .)
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To: jwparkerjr

Must be a Cheddar. Velvita would have melted and left a smooooth surface.


4 posted on 01/16/2008 3:11:27 PM PST by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: jwparkerjr

Might look similar, but the composition is very different.


5 posted on 01/16/2008 3:14:40 PM PST by RightWhale (Dean Koonz is good, but my favorite authors are Dun and Bradstreet)
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To: RightWhale

No “seas”, for instance. Just craters.


6 posted on 01/16/2008 3:30:43 PM PST by dr_who_2
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To: dr_who_2

That’s a good observation. Something like 60% of the planet is iron core, whereas the moon has zero % core. That is bound to look different on the surface.


7 posted on 01/16/2008 3:35:31 PM PST by RightWhale (Dean Koonz is good, but my favorite authors are Dun and Bradstreet)
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To: sig226

why it is so dense.

Government schools.


8 posted on 01/16/2008 3:37:59 PM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: jwparkerjr
Look at the concentration of craters in the bottom compared to the top.

What you're perceiving is a psychological phenomenon whose name escapes me. Your brain sees round + gray + craters and the most familiar image with those features is the moon, so your brain says it looks like the moon. It actually doesn't.

9 posted on 01/16/2008 5:49:30 PM PST by sig226 (New additions to the list of democrat criminals - see my profile)
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To: RightWhale

Why? Because any iron on the moon is on the surface (presumably from meteorites) instead of in the core?


10 posted on 01/16/2008 6:41:40 PM PST by dr_who_2
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To: dr_who_2

Before the modern computer mouse with the laser on the bottom, some of the more elderly may remember an older design that had a heavy metal ball covered with rubber for traction. That is like Mercury. A heavy iron ball with a thin layer of stuff outside. The surface may be chipped some from asteroid impacts but nothing major will happen to the planet. No seas, no volcanoes, nobody home.


11 posted on 01/17/2008 9:09:15 AM PST by RightWhale (Dean Koonz is good, but my favorite authors are Dun and Bradstreet)
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To: RightWhale

Add a chain to it and it reminds me of my ex-gf.


12 posted on 01/17/2008 11:50:16 AM PST by mowowie
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To: RightWhale
Old style mice do indeed have iron balls with a thin coating of rubber, but you must remember that they usually build up a residue of dust, hair, and other organic material like that. This has serious implications to planetary science as well as speculation about the origins of life.

It can only mean that G-d had to go through a couple of cheap mice before he could get his Mac to work to work right and that our solar system is really just a dumping ground for old computer parts. I wonder what the creationists will think about that!

"This new learning amazes me, Sir Bedivere! Explain again how sheeps bladders may be used to prevent earthquakes." -- King Arthur, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
13 posted on 01/18/2008 10:54:48 AM PST by dr_who_2
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