Messenger Reveals Mercury

Shown above is the latest photograph of the surface of Mercury taken by the Messenger probe, it’s the first time we’ve looked at the planet since the 70s (click on the image to see it at full size):

Messenger Reveals Mercury in New Detail

“As NASA’s Messenger spacecraft approached Mercury on January 14, 2008, it captured this view of the planet’s rugged, cratered landscape illuminated obliquely by the sun. This image was taken from a distance of approximately 11,000 miles, about 56 minutes before the spacecraft’s closest encounter with Mercury. It shows a region 300 miles across including craters less than a mile wide. The large, shadow-filled, double ringed crater to the upper right was glimpsed by Mariner 10 more than three decades ago and named Vivaldi, after the Italian composer.”

…and also check out this amazing short film made by the Messenger spacecraft leaving Earth:

Photo Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington.