Astronomy Down Under

First MESSENGER images

11 Jan at 10:48 by Wilson

As I mentioned previously, images from the MESSENGER fly-by of Mercury have started arriving; the one shown here, the first one released by NASA, was taken from a distance of 2.7 million kilometres, just after midnight on 10 January (Melbourne time) (click the image to see a larger version).

MESSENGER will reach its closest approach to Mercury this time around early in the morning of 15 January (again, Melbourne time), when it will be 200km above the surface; images and movies should be released soon afterwards. This is the first time a spacecraft gets close to Mercury since Mariner 10, in 1974.