Probe Unlocks Mercury's Secrets

Future photos to reveal planet's unseen regions

(NEWSER) - A NASA spacecraft has captured the first photo of Mercury taken from orbit. The first of yesterday’s 363 images, shown at left, show the planet’s south pole. The gray surface is covered with craters, including a 53-mile-wide one known as Debussy. Other photos from the $464 million Messenger probe will likely reveal previously-unseen parts of the planet, Space.com reports; it's expected to circle the planet for a year. More»

Messenger will take 1,200 pictures from 124 miles up

(NEWSER) - NASA's Messenger spacecraft this afternoon will whiz past Mercury at 141,000 mph and snap an estimated 1,200 detailed photos of the planet's surface from a mere 124 miles up. It will be the first of three passes before the craft starts orbiting the planet closest to the sun in 2011. What scientists find could provide clues about how the Earth was formed. More»

NASA's Messenger probe slips into orbit after 4.9B-mile journey

(NEWSER) - After a 4.9 billion-mile journey that required six years and some very tricky moves, NASA has put a spacecraft into orbit around Mercury for the first time ever. Researchers are eagerly awaiting their first extensive look at the solar system's smallest planet, AP reports. The Messenger probe will begin transmitting pictures and investigating the rocky planet's mysterious magnetic field next month. More»

(NEWSER) - Mercury's not such a dull planet after all. A new batch of papers in Science spells out evidence of a busy volcanic past and describes an unusual impact crater that would stretch from Boston to DC, reports Wired. The papers, which draw from the October flyby of NASA's Messenger craft, speculate that 40% of the planet's surface was formed by volcanoes. That's a huge shift—prior to Messenger's trip, scientists weren't sure if Mercury had any volcanic activity at all. More»

Messenger spacecraft reveals planets core still molten

(NEWSER) - The planet Mercury is shrinking, the LA Times reports. Data from NASA’s Mercury Messenger spacecraft reveal that the planet’s diameter has shrunk by a mile over its history, probably because its core is cooling. Messenger flew in for a close-up in January, and scientists are now piecing together the new information and re-evaluating some long-held beliefs about the planet. More»