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Credit & Copyright: NASA,
JHUAPL,
CIW;
Processing: Roman
Tkachenko;
Music: Open Sea Morning by Puddle of Infinity
Explanation:
What would it be like to fly over the planet Mercury?
Images and data taken from NASA's robotic
MESSENGER spacecraft that
orbited Mercury from 2011 to
2015 have been digitally combined to envision a virtual flight that highlights much
of the hot planet's surface.
In general,
the Solar System's innermost
world appears similar to
Earth's Moon as it is covered by a heavily cratered gray
terrain.
MESSENGER discovered much
about Mercury including that shadows near its poles likely host water ice.
The featured video opens
as
Mercury is viewed from
the Sun-facing side and concludes with the virtual spacecraft
retreating into Mercury's night.
Mercury actually rotates so slowly that it only completes
three rotations for every two trips around the Sun.
In 2018, Europe and Japan plan to launch
BepiColombo
to better map Mercury's surface and
probe its
magnetic field.
Free Download:
The 2018 APOD Calendar
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Mercury
Publications with words: Mercury
See also: