Comments on: MESSENGER images Venus

By: StevoR

StevoR — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 03:39:06 +0000

Or volcanism?

Took three years of French @ high school and about all I can remember is that they call their swimming pools “piss-ins” & yoplait is Not “French for yoghurt”as yaourt is …

There was only one previous mission to Mercury – Mariner (10?) in about the 1960′s-70s – which flew past a couple of times but didn’t map the entire surface. So there are unknown areas there that may surprise us with at least one group suggesting there maybe a sizeable volcano there yet to be discovered. (Source : ‘Astronomy Now’ magazine : “10 mysteries of the Solar system.” At work now so can’t list exact month, author etc ..)

Incidentally, smallest planet is debateable. Counting the dwarfs as we should (after all we count dwarf stars as stars too!) Ceres is the smallest planet.

By: Lyle Gaulding

Lyle Gaulding — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:17:18 +0000

As I understand it any molten metal on the surface of Mercury would graduall seep doiwn into the substrate, so there would be none on the serface unless there was a planet quake

By: icemith

icemith — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:40:55 +0000

Gary: Love the *shift* 2 @ 10:09am.

Is this the same shift that Phil has just undertaken?
At @0 days ago? (+/- a few days).

Ivan.

By: Mark Martin

Mark Martin — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 16:32:54 +0000

DenverAstro,

The reason for placing an orbiter about Mercury -even though we already have some photos from a previous probe- is for the same reason why orbiters have been placed about several other planets, such as Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn. Fly-by missions have literally only a period of minutes to swing in close, take some photos, and then leave the planet forever. An orbiter has the opportunity to map the entire planet for a variety of parameters, using instruments which are orders of magnitude improved over those which were on the fly-by probe way back in the early 1970s.

By: DenverAstro

DenverAstro — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 14:18:07 +0000

In my astro photos folder, I have some pictures of Mercury. They are fairly detailed and show a planet heavily cratered…not a big deal. Since we already have photos of Mercury, what is the primary mission for Messenger? Im not sure I have read anything about it and Im interested in what they expect to learn that we dont already know?

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 18:09:08 +0000

Berlzebub: Piker. @0 years is so YOUNG. I had French in 1962. Fortunately, the French teacher WAS French, a graduate of the Sorbonne, so my accent is pretty good, though I’ve managed to forget most of my vocabulary. Perhaps next time I visit France, I’ll have the chance to recall some of that,,,

Will Messenger make good photos of the surface? Might be able to see molten rivers of lead,,,that would be cool,,,er,,,,hot,,,
Maybe we’ll spot Darth Vader taking a swim,,,

Gary 7

By: Jasini

Jasini — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:57:15 +0000

The pictures of Mercury will be cool? Somehow I’d think they’d be hot.

By: Berlzebub

Berlzebub — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:23:03 +0000

By the way, very cool link, Mark. I’ll have to check that out when I have some time.

By: Berlzebub

Berlzebub — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:19:44 +0000

…(yeah, yeah, I know, three years of French I took)…

Don’t feel too bad, Phil. I took three years of French about twenty years ago. *Sigh* Man, I’m old. Anyway, my teacher was a hillbilly. So, my enunciations are probably all off.

By: Stephen Touset

Stephen Touset — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:59:54 +0000

jbrader: Kinko’s

Mark: Thanks for the link! I’d Googled but hadn’t found anything.

By: jbrader

jbrader — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:48:18 +0000

Any idea if it’s possible to get a poster of that sequence?

By: Mark Martin

Mark Martin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:36:40 +0000

Somewhat off topic:

In the new movie “Sunshine” (which of course isn’t in the U.S. just yet) there’s a scene in which a graphical simulation is played of the spacecraft’s gravity assist with Mercury. It portrays the ship making two complete loops about the planet before proceeding to its rendezvous with the Sun. It’s inconsequential to the overall story, but it is the stuff which makes going to the movies worth the price of admission for physics geeks.

By: Mark Martin

Mark Martin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:29:51 +0000

Here you go: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/ani.html

By: Stephen Touset

Stephen Touset — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:20:35 +0000

Is there somewhere I can find a map of the path and interactions the MESSENGER probe has made and will make throughout its journey? The whole thing seems like the largest game of intergalactic billiards ever played, and just seeing the number of “trick shots” NASA has to make to park this thing in its final orbit around Mercury would be extremely interesting.