Tópico: Astronomia - A sonda Messenger chegou em Mercúrio

[Geotecton]

MESSENGER Begins Historic Orbit Around Mercury



NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft successfully achieved orbit around Mercury at approximately 9 p.m. EDT Thursday. This marks the first time a spacecraft has accomplished this engineering and scientific milestone at our solar system's innermost planet.

For the next several weeks, APL engineers will be focused on ensuring the spacecraft’s systems are all working well in Mercury’s harsh thermal environment. Starting on March 23, the instruments will be turned on and checked out, and on April 4 the mission's primary science phase will begin.

Página da Messenger no site da NASA.

[Gutislo, o godo]

Muito bom! Acompanho mais ou menos a Cassini, a qual orbita saturno,  e a mesma já forneceu uma quantidade imensa de fotos belíssimas do planeta, suas luas, assim como informações valiosas. 

Agora resta-nos aguardar os trabalhos desta.