i am only ten but i want to become an astronamist but i wanna now more about space what should i do?

Well, I believe there are two ways you can go with this : amateur or professional.

Here’s a few tips for becoming an amateur astronomer and learning more about space:
1. Get thee to a library. Any decent library should have several good books about space, space exploration and astronomy.
2. Join a local amateur astronomy club or society, and get out there observing.
3. Persuade someone to buy you a telescope (it need not be all-singing, all-dancing to give you a good view of the moon, the planets and such things as open star clusters).
4. Acquire something like a planisphere or astronomical-object-locating software, so you can find the things you want to look at.
5. Get to know the night sky, and fall in love with it.
6. Don’t expect the view through a telescope to look like the pretty pictures we get from Hubble and other large telescopes. Those pictures are (in essence) very-long-exposure photographs, and show up very faint details that the human eye won’t be able to see without a telescope about a mile wide.

To become a professional astronomer:
1. Actually, steps 1 – 6 above are a pretty good start for this.
2. Study maths and physics at school (and astronomy if it is available).
3. Study Physics and/or Astronomy (or astrophysics) at university.
4. Take a postgraduate degree (preferably a PhD) in astronomy and discover something no-one else knew before.

Well, that’s my twopenn’orth on the topic. I’m sure other people have some equally good or better ideas.

Certainly a fave of mine growing up. Then when I re-read it much later on, much as I enjoyed it, I kept thinking there are a lot of concepts taken for granted in it that I’m not really all that comfy with. Galaxy-spanning empire = good thing? Not so sure, really, irrespective whether it’s modeled on Pax Romana or Pax Americana–or Pax Scientifica. Speakin’ a which, that whole Second Foundation and Seldon’s Plan stuff is a little too big-brotherish by half for my adult tastes. Who put them in charge? Oh right, superior mind power and sciency stuff. Easy to be okay with that when I was 11 and took it for granted I’d be in with the super geniuses running it all behind the curtain, but later on you realize the people who thrive on that kind of set up aren’t really your friends even if it’s all created with the Best of Intentions For Mankind. All in all, a pretty far cry from that other adolescent SF epic that can grab you by the short ones at a vulnerable stage, Atlas Shrugged, but not so far as to be quite inaudible.

But anyway, back to amazing Mercury pix and (sincerely) yay science for giving us stuff like this!

Could Khan be hiding behind that rock?

I was waiting for Messenger, I even remember the old images from 1974 at the time. Mercury has been very bright and easy to spot all winter/spring so it’s in mind, plus remember it aligned with Jupiter two weeks ago and Venus only a year ago?

Well, as has been pointed out, concentrated ores may not occur. And it is unlikely to be economically viable, as has also been pointed out.

However, Mercury is the second-densest planet, with a density of about 5.4 gcm^-3. (Earth is a little denser due to gravitational compression. Source: http [colon slash slash] nineplanets [dot] org/mercury.html).

So, Mercury contains plenty of metal.

Old Victor Borge joke.

Apropos nothing.

“Click to ensmallestplanetate”

If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, perhaps it could be something like “enhermeate”. Hermes was the Greek equivalent, after all

(Though I suppose quasi-magical spaceship technology could change the economics, it usually bothers me when “mining planets” show up in science fiction. Usually, it’s just an excuse to have a Western-like setting in space.)

This comment alone gives me goosebumps, to think that these are some of the first highly detailed images of the planet that any human has ever seen – just awesome.

@Steven Colyer,

This easy task is done by a parachute down to sun?
“Braking” down is as energy consuming as “climbing up”
in a gravitational field.
Messenger did his journey “down” to Mercury by several
“swing bys”, didn’t he?
RE mining:
in general, mecury might contain higher proportion of heavy
elements compared to earth. But- mining affords some chemical/physical
processes which concentrate the ores in some rocks/cleaviges not too deep.
All that is part of geology/minealogy, likely “driven” by
the process of continent formation and circulation of mantle rock
on our earth. Maybe something like that never happened on Mercury.

Im really excited to see what this little critter uncovers from the big M. A world so close, yet so unknown!

Landing a man or robotic craft on Mercury will be easy, we can use the sun’s gravity to coast on in. Returning to Earth however, will require a simply tremendous amount of energy, more than most people realize, thanks to that very same solar gravity well.

Would it be logical to presume Mercury may be the richest planet in the solar system in terms of metals? Rare earths, maybe? Minerals? I think it might, in which case somebody alert the Mining Companies! There’s profit to be made! Yes, I know I’m shameless, but anything that gets people into space is good enough for me.

Is there any mercury (the element) on Mercury?

Hey Phil, when the one-year mission is over, will we have fully mapped Mercury’s surface? When is the soonest we will have such a pic, suitable for framing?

@ 37. Messier Tidy Upper – Asimov was my favorite author too. He wore the crown as the best popularizer of Science between Gamow and Sagan as well. You’d be surprised at how many “kids” (people born after 1972) find him boring. That’s because he wrote in “dialogue” style. Not enough action for the McDonalds generation, I guess. But my oh my, what dialogue. The Foundation Trilogy stands alone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet)#Plains

which notes :

Smooth plains are widespread flat areas which fill depressions of various sizes and bear a strong resemblance to the lunar maria. Notably, they fill a wide ring surrounding the Caloris Basin. Unlike lunar maria, the smooth plains of Mercury have the same albedo as the older inter-crater plains. Despite a lack of unequivocally volcanic characteristics, the localisation and rounded, lobate shape of these plains strongly support volcanic origins.

@ 18. Allen T : I hope Google puts up a Google Mercury site.

While your waiting for them to do so, I recommend checking out this :

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-424/app-a.htm

online info. from the old Mariner 10 spacecraft.

@31. Crudely Wrott :

You know, it would have been so cool if Isaac Asimov had lived to see these pictures. Some of his earliest stories featured Mercury as a stage.

Yes indeed. Asimov was my favourite author – still is for that matter – and an absolute inspiration – I couldn’t agree more.

Some of Asimov’s Mercury based stories include this one :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaround

one of the first of his Robot series and thefirts where teh 3 laws are explicitly stated.

Plus this one :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Starr_and_the_Big_Sun_of_Mercury

where his childrens’ novel is set on the innermost planet.

There were others too.