First Photos From MESSENGER: Mercury

March 29, 2011

Just a few weeks ago we told you about the NASA spacecraft MESSENGER becoming the first spacecraft in history (in human history…) to make orbit around our innermost and hottest planet, Mercury. Well the very first photo just came back to Earth, and “WOW” is right:

This image is the first ever returned from a spacecraft orbiting Mercury, but MESSENGER has already taken hundreds more, and thousands are planned during this commissioning phase (when the various instruments and spacecraft are checked out). The real science observations begin April 4.

Tomorrow, NASA will have a press conference and more images. I’ll have more info and more amazing pictures from Mercury to show you then!

Here’s  the NASA MESSENGER site here. Enjoy!

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