Astronomy Picture of the Day 7-16-02

NASA ^ | 7-16-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 July 16

Outbound from Mercury
Credit: Mariner 10, NASA

Explanation: After just passing Mercury, the robot spacecraft Mariner 10 looked back. The above picture is what it saw. Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, is heavily cratered much like Earth's Moon. As Mercury slowly rotates, its surface temperature varies from an unbearably cold -180 degrees Celsius in the half facing away from the Sun, to an unbearably hot 400 degrees Celsius in the half facing toward the Sun. Mercury is slightly larger than Earth's Moon and much denser. The Mariner 10 spacecraft swooped by Mercury three times in its journey around the inner Solar System in the mid-1970s. This outbound view has similarities to the inbound view. Nearly half of Mercury's surface has yet to be photographed in detail.

[sistergoldenhair]

Love this one; well worth the wait.

[headsonpikes]

"Know of any [planetary engineers]?"

'Terraformers R Us'...a Ferengi Enterprise. ;^)

[ramdalesh]

ping

[sleavelessinseattle]

Noone can touch a mom for domestic engineering! Mom's instinctively know how to glue pancakes back together when they break and how to fit square sandwiches and fruit into rectangular bags without shipping damage! You should go 2T!