First Ever Closeup Of Mercury - io9 Comments

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

rikchik — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:26:42 PST

@selcouth14: check out the Messenger mission page on Wikipedia. It's taking a couple of laps in order to slow down enough to enter orbit - this time is just a visit.

rikchik

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

Selcouth14: Add 28 for the answer — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:43:59 PST

@mattclary: The similarities are there, though strength is not what I take from it so much as comfort in nothingness.

But I also don't want to hijack this thread so back on to Mercury: The article stated that the probe will be orbiting Mercury in 2011 so what is it going to be doing for the next 3 years? Solitaire?

Selcouth14: Add 28 for the answer

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

mattclary — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:20:37 PST

oops, post first post wouldn't show up...

mattclary

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

mattclary — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:20:08 PST

@selcouth14:

No offense taken. I'm not religious but one flight of fancy is no worse than any other.

I kind of admire atheists, it takes a strong person to admit they cease to exist when they die.

mattclary

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

mattclary — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:11:51 PST

Not offended, I'm not religious at all, but don't see why one flight of fancy is better than another.

I kind of admire atheists, it takes a strong person to admit to themselves they cease to exist when they die.

mattclary

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

Selcouth14: Add 28 for the answer — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:03:21 PST

@mattclary: Just saw that little wink at the bottom, take no offense from the wording above.

Selcouth14: Add 28 for the answer

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

Selcouth14: Add 28 for the answer — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:02:16 PST

@mattclary: Well, yeah...

I'm more comfortable with that idea then with current ideas based around a god.

@ThatGuyOverThere: Agreed. NASA get with the widescreen program!

Selcouth14: Add 28 for the answer

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

mattclary — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:48:58 PST

@NONCORNBATANT, well, obviously ancient space alien civilizations are a much more acceptable answer than GOD!

;)

mattclary

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

ThatGuyOverThere — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:19:02 PST

dammit NASA, don't you know my display is 16:9?

Why must you continually frustrate me?

ThatGuyOverThere

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

EncephelanetRepairHelperGuy — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:13:59 PST

@strider_mt2k: Why, that explains its Mercurial Rivers! Like the pathology of water here on Earth, always etching its way to lower ground until it empties into the oceans, these Mercurial Rivers of super-magnetic energy travel for seemingly-eons along the pathways of yesterday's (and tomorrow's) solar exegons (word?), or is it excretions, mapping a rich pathway for any extra-galactic space travellers attuned to such knowledge (capiche?).

EncephelanetRepairHelperGuy

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

strider_mt2k — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:35:48 PST

Nice pics!

You can tell that thing has been impacted by some very high energy stuff!

Our sun is an attractive bastard and poor Mercury is the last chance for any collisions before stuff hits the sun itself.

strider_mt2k

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

noncornbatant — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:39:33 PST

@masterofpastures: "Surely we cannot be a product of natural and spontaneous evolution. For that matter, God can also be scratched off the list."

So... what, then?

noncornbatant

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

EncephelanetRepairHelperGuy — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:22:37 PST

@WickedGlee: hahaha..

EncephelanetRepairHelperGuy

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

WickedGlee — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:18:56 PST

Wow, it looks like .... the moon. ;-)

WickedGlee

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

robot.sonic — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:40:36 PST

@whyaduck:

Well, I feel like I've learnt something today!

Thanks

robot.sonic

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

EncephelanetRepairHelperGuy — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:23:43 PST

A magnetic field....Interesting....

"Temperatures during the noon hour: 800 degrees Fahrenheit. And because Mercury rotates on its axis so slowly,that "noon hour" lasts seven Earth days." (Tribune)

EncephelanetRepairHelperGuy

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

Whyaduck — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:21:36 PST

@whyaduck: [athene.as.arizona.edu] Has some interesting information on the prevalence of craters on Earth compared to Venus.

Whyaduck

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

Whyaduck — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:16:41 PST

@robot.sonic: Our atmosphere protects us from the vast majority of meteor impacts that other planets and moons experience. Evidence of almost all of the meteorite impacts we do experience is soon hidden by Earth's biosphere.

Whyaduck

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

robot.sonic — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:53:22 PST

@MasterOfPastures:

Ditto. There must be something on one of these planets that isn't just rock or gas...just...something more, or something surprising.

I suppose i should probably look into it actually, but i often wonder why every other solid planet/moon in the solar system is pockmarked to shit with craters, yet we seem to be remarkably less so. they have moons too. what gives?

Nice picture.

robot.sonic

First Ever Closeup Of Mercury

MasterOfPastures — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:48:08 PST

Thats some shexy pictures...
I wonder what secrets lie in the dead planets of our system?
Surely we cannot be a product of natural and spontaneous evolution. For that matter, God can also be scratched off the list.

MasterOfPastures