Comments on: Spiders on Mercury! http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/ I am an astronomer, writer, and skeptic. I likes reality the way it is, and I aims to keep it that way. My real name is Phil Plait, and I run the Bad Astronomy blog. Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:36:28 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Wayne H http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/comment-page-1/#comment-67629 Wayne H Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:21:57 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/#comment-67629 A bit late to the party, but it's almost certainly chance superposition. I tracked the lines of many of the troughs: They do not centre on the crater. See for yourself: http://upload.hattix.co.uk/files/caloris_messenger.png A bit late to the party, but it’s almost certainly chance superposition. I tracked the lines of many of the troughs: They do not centre on the crater. See for yourself:
http://upload.hattix.co.uk/files/caloris_messenger.png

]]> By: Barton Paul Levenson http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/comment-page-1/#comment-67628 Barton Paul Levenson Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:16:34 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/#comment-67628 Astro writes: [[<i>Why are they pulling mesenger away from mercury already? it just got there and on the planetary.org blog it has shots of it pulling away already.</i>]] It's not orbiting Mercury yet, it's on a fly-by as it continues around the sun. It will take another couple of solar orbits before it's going slowly enough to enter Mercury orbit (in 2009, I think). Astro writes:

[[Why are they pulling mesenger away from mercury already?
it just got there and on the planetary.org blog it has shots of it pulling away already.]]

It’s not orbiting Mercury yet, it’s on a fly-by as it continues around the sun. It will take another couple of solar orbits before it’s going slowly enough to enter Mercury orbit (in 2009, I think).

]]> By: Astro http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/comment-page-1/#comment-67627 Astro Fri, 01 Feb 2008 05:28:59 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/#comment-67627 Why are they pulling mesenger away from mercury already? it just got there and on the planetary.org blog it has shots of it pulling away already. where it is it heading next ? Why are they pulling mesenger away from mercury already?
it just got there and on the planetary.org blog it has shots of it pulling away already.

where it is it heading next ?

]]> By: Gary Ansorge http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/comment-page-1/#comment-67626 Gary Ansorge Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:11:24 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/#comment-67626 Majy: I've seen some pics that were designed to provoke that very same illusion. Stare at what appears to be an indented hole surrounded by rills and after a while it inverts and appears to be a mountain peak surrounded by circular valleys. GAry 7 Majy:
I’ve seen some pics that were designed to provoke that very same illusion. Stare at what appears to be an indented hole surrounded by rills and after a while it inverts and appears to be a mountain peak surrounded by circular valleys.

GAry 7

]]> By: Majy http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/comment-page-1/#comment-67623 Majy Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:04:38 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/#comment-67623 Phil, Is there any reason that when I look at pictures like this that the craters and cracks look like bumps to me? They don't look indented; they look like bumps and hills. I even tried turning the picture 180 deg. Still looks like bumps. This happens all the time to me when I look at pics of craters... weird. Some kind of optical illusion? Majy Phil,

Is there any reason that when I look at pictures like this that the craters and cracks look like bumps to me? They don’t look indented; they look like bumps and hills. I even tried turning the picture 180 deg. Still looks like bumps. This happens all the time to me when I look at pics of craters… weird. Some kind of optical illusion?

Majy

]]> By: alfaniner http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/comment-page-1/#comment-67625 alfaniner Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:38:08 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/#comment-67625 Did a little playing around in Paint. Invert the colors, flip it vertically, and it looks like the Death Star exploding! Did a little playing around in Paint. Invert the colors, flip it vertically, and it looks like the Death Star exploding!

]]> By: Spankermatic http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/comment-page-1/#comment-67624 Spankermatic Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:17:31 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/30/spiders-on-mercury/#comment-67624 Thanks Tulle. Much appreciated. 1\3rd eh? Thats a bit of a drop in resolution. Thanks Tulle. Much appreciated. 1\3rd eh? Thats a bit of a drop in resolution.

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