Archives for the 'Mercury' Category
Mercury’s Weird Terrain
Published on 3 Feb 2008 at 12:03 am.
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Filed under Mercury, planets.
Two days ago, I wrote about Mercury’s Caloris Basin, a massive impact site on the planet. Mariner 10 only say part of the Caloris Basin. However, by good fortune, Mariner 10 did see the antipodal (exactly opposite) side of Mercury from the Caloris Basin. And, what Mariner 10 saw was quite a […]
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So, where is Mercury?
Published on 2 Feb 2008 at 8:53 am.
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Filed under Mercury, observing, planets.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve posted several things about the planet Mercury. So, you might be tempted to ask, “Can I see Mercury in the sky tonight?” Unfortunately, the answer is, “Probably not.”
In the image below, I show the view to the western sky right at sunset. The Sun is […]
Caloris Basin
Published on 1 Feb 2008 at 1:52 pm.
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Filed under Mercury, planets.
Caloris Basin (officially, Caloris Planitia) is a giant impact feature on the planet Mercury. I find it hard to use the word “crater” for something this large. It is about the size of the state of Texas! The structure was first discovered by the Mariner 10 spacecraft in the 1970s. When […]
Colorized Mercury
Published on 24 Jan 2008 at 9:15 pm.
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Per a request from a geology professor at my college, I am posting another image of Mercury taken by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its flyby of that planet earlier this month.
Mercury has no appreciable atmosphere, so its surface shows eons of impacts. Erosion does not cover up the craters as it does on Earth. […]
New Images of Mercury
Published on 17 Jan 2008 at 12:57 pm.
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The MESSENGER spacecraft is sending back the highest resolution images of the planet Mercury every taken. Many of these images are of portions of Mercury’s surface that have never been seen up close before. The Mariner 10 spacecraft that visited Mercury over three decades ago never got to see all of the surface, […]
Mercury, finally.
Published on 13 Jan 2008 at 12:49 pm.
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Filed under Mercury, planets, space exploration.
The MESSENGER spacecraft is now nearly to Mercury. It will pass that planet tomorrow, Monday, January 13, 2008, at about 1:05pm, Central Standard Time. I have published two other postings about MESSENGER (here and here). I am not going to restate all of that, so you can go back and read them […]
The rotation of Mercury
Published on 14 Mar 2006 at 7:10 pm.
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A couple days ago, in my post on Enceladus, I mentioned the rotation of Mercury as having a 3:2 spin-orbit coupling. I thought that I might say more on the subject.
Spin orbit coupling occurs when tidal forces on a planet or moon cause either speed up or slow down the rotation to match […]
