# Merkurius. Har nu passerats Messenger Author: medde I morgon ska en Nasa rymdfarkost flyga in på nära håll över den lilla planet Merkurius, och ta bilder det är första gången på 33 år. Det är rymdfarkosten Messenger som ska ta bilderna i morgon .Messenger kommer att flyga så lågt som 200 kilometer över Merkurius. Detta ska hända i morgon och det blir ju den första sedan 1975 , men då var det Mariner som gick in över Merkuris. Mariner hade mycket svagare instrument  för observationer änn vad nu Messenger har nu. Så det kommer bli riktigt spännande då Nasa släpper dessa bilder. Så nu kommer jag sitta och vänta på dessa bilder, så spännande att få se. Merkuris är den minsta och absolut innersta planeten i solsystemet. ## Comment 1 Author: iboat Spännande! Hur lång tid brukar det ta innan Nasa lägger ut bilder, och har du någon direktlänk (förutom nasa.gov) där bilderna brukar hamna? ## Comment 2 Author: medde #1 Det brukar gå ganska fort för Nasa att lägga ut bilder, oftas nästan direkt men ibland kan det ta en vecka. Jag kan kolla i morgon om det finns någon direkt länk till att se dessa bilder snabbare, vilket jag tror. Jag har en sida där jag loggar in på Nasa för att kunna läsa mera info om allt som händer och har hänt. ## Comment 3 Author: vanessa Det är spännande. Trummar med fingarna och väntar ivrigt :-). /Vanessa ## Comment 4 Author: medde Bilderna kommer inte i dag ut, så mycket vet jag. Men det kommer inte att dröja länge. ## Comment 5 Author: medde ![Messenger's approach of Mercury](http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/207984main_mercury_flyby_226.jpg "Messenger's approach of Mercury") Messenger's approach to Mercury is chronicled in this image taken by the Wide Angle Camera on Messenger. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL On Monday, Jan. 14, a pioneering NASA spacecraft will be the first to visit Mercury in almost 33 years when it soars over the planet to explore and snap close-up images of never-before-seen terrain. These findings could open new theories and answer old questions in the study of the solar system. The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft, called MESSENGER, is the first mission sent to orbit the planet closest to our sun. Before that orbit begins in 2011, the probe will make three flights past the small planet, skimming as close as 124 miles above Mercury's cratered, rocky surface. MESSENGER's cameras and other sophisticated, high-technology instruments will collect more than 1,200 images and make other observations during this approach, encounter and departure. It will make the first up-close measurements since Mariner 10 spacecraft's third and final flyby on March 16, 1975. When Mariner 10 flew by Mercury in the mid-1970s, it surveyed only one hemisphere. ![Mariner 10 image of Mercury showing the different compositions that make up the planet](http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/207987main_mercury_surface_color.jpg "Mariner 10 image of Mercury showing the different compositions that make up the planet") This color composite image produced from Mariner 10 data reveals evidence that different terrains on Mercury have different compositions. Image courtesy of M. S. Robinson (Robinson and Lucey, Science, 1997). "This is raw scientific exploration and the suspense is building by the day," said Alan Stern, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. "What will MESSENGER see? Monday will tell the tale." This encounter will provide a critical gravity assist needed to keep the spacecraft on track for its March 2011 orbit insertion, beginning an unprecedented yearlong study of Mercury. The flyby also will gather essential data for mission planning. "During this flyby we will begin to image the hemisphere that has never been seen by a spacecraft and Mercury at resolutions better than those acquired by Mariner 10," said Sean C. Solomon, MESSENGER principal investigator, Carnegie Institution of Washington. "Images will be in a number of different color filters so that we can start to get an idea of the composition of the surface." One site of great interest is the Caloris basin, an impact crater about 800 miles in diameter, which is one of the largest impact basins in the solar system. "Caloris is huge, about a quarter of the diameter of Mercury, with rings of mountains within it that are up to two miles high," said Louise Prockter, the instrument scientist for the Mercury Dual Imaging System at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel. "Mariner 10 saw a little less than half of the basin. During this first flyby, we will image the other side." ![Artist's concept of Messenger at Mercury](http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/207983main_atmercury_sm.jpg "Artist's concept of Messenger at Mercury") Artist's concept of the Messenger flyby of Mercury. Credit: JHUAPL MESSENGER's instruments will provide the first spacecraft measurements of the mineralogical and chemical composition of Mercury's surface. It also will study the global magnetic field and improve our knowledge of the gravity field from the Mariner 10 flyby. The long-wavelength components of the gravity field provide key information about the planet's internal structure, particularly the size of Mercury's core. The flyby will provide an opportunity to examine Mercury's environment in unique ways, not possible once the spacecraft begins orbiting the planet. The flyby also will map Mercury's tenuous atmosphere with ultraviolet observations and document the energetic particle and plasma of Mercury's magnetosphere. In addition, the flyby trajectory will enable unique particle and plasma measurements of the magnetic tail that sweeps behind Mercury. Launched Aug. 3, 2004, MESSENGER is slightly more than halfway through its 4.9-billion mile journey. It already has flown past Earth once and Venus twice. The spacecraft will use the pull of Mercury's gravity during this month's pass and others in October 2008 and September 2009 to guide it progressively closer to the planet's orbit. Insertion will be accomplished with a fourth Mercury encounter in 2011. The MESSENGER project is the seventh in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, scientifically focused space missions. The Applied Physics Laboratory designed, built and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA. [\>Mercury Flyby Visualization Tool](http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/encounters/) **Källa:** [http://www.nasa.gov/missions/index.html](http://www.nasa.gov/missions/index.html "http://www.nasa.gov/missions/index.html") ## Comment 6 Author: vanessa Nu har Messenger passerat, och det känns så löjligt spännande tycker jag. /Vanessa ## Comment 7 Author: medde Här är en länk till en video som Messenger tagit på sin väg till Merkurius:[http://www.nasa.gov/mov/208323main\_opnav\_jan09\_jan13.mov](http://www.nasa.gov/mov/208323main_opnav_jan09_jan13.mov "http://www.nasa.gov/mov/208323main_opnav_jan09_jan13.mov") ## Comment 8 Author: medde Nu har det kommit in lite bilder.  Foto:[NASA](http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html "http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html") ![ New View](http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/208508main_image_999_428-321.jpg " New View") ## Comment 9 Author: medde En till. Foto:[NASA](http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html "http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html") ![ Crescent](http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/208964main_image_1001_428-321.jpg " Crescent") ## Comment 10 Author: medde Foto:[NASA](http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html "http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html") ![MESSENGER's first look at Mercury's previously unseen side](http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/207998main_Messenger_690.jpg "MESSENGER's first look at Mercury's previously unseen side") ## Comment 11 Author: Mark Ännu mer bilder. Jag vet bara inte hur man kortar ner adressen, kanske Vanessa fixar? [Mercurysuprise](http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/30jan_mercurysurprise.htm?list169476 "http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/30jan_mercurysurprise.htm?list169476") Nasa ## Comment 12 Author: medde #11 Nej medde fixar.![Skrattande](../tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif) ## Comment 13 Author: medde Tack för  länken , bra läsning med. ## Comment 14 Author: medde Messenger flyger åter passera Merkurius under måndagen. ## Comment 15 Author: Buuc Merkurius ser så kall ut men den är väl den varmaste planeten eftersom den är närmast solen.. ## Comment 16 Author: medde Tempen vid ekvatorn mitt på dagen kan faktiskt gå över 800 K  när planeten då är i perihelium. Men tempen kan falla på natten ända ner till 90K. Men det finns i polartrakterna kratrar som faktisk aldrig sett solen. ## Comment 17 Author: [Borttaget] Oj oJ! Här fanns mera läsning som jag missat!! Ska ta mig igenom detta imorgon. Tackar ![Kyss](../tiny3/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-kiss.gif "Kyss") P.S: Fina bilder. ## Comment 18 Author: [Borttaget] Ja här fanns mycke man missat.. Men de är kul att få läsa nu ![Skrattande](../tiny3/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-laughing.gif "Skrattande") ## Comment 19 Author: medde #18 Har du missat igen Henke!![Förvånad](../tiny3/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-surprised.gif "Förvånad") Tur att vissa trådar kommer upp till ytan lite då och då! ## Comment 20 Author: [Borttaget] Ja det är bra det. Henke är inte ensam om att missa. Det gör jag med märker jag. Så tur att ni puttar upp. ![Flört](../tiny3/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif "Flört") ## Comment 21 Author: medde #20 Även med din hjälp ibland nera. Tack