NASA probe aims to unlock Mercury's secrets

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Agence France-Presse

NASA probe aims to unlock Mercury's secrets
by Jean-Louis Santini Jean-louis Santini – Wed Mar 30, 10:28 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – NASA scientists pored over stunning new images of Mercury as their MESSENGER probe began a year-long mission to map the surface of the solar system's least-understood planet.

After a 4.9-billion-mile (7.9-billion-kilometer) journey that took six-and-a-half years, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft finally entered the planet's orbit on March 17.

MESSENGER could unlock the secrets of a planet where temperatures reach a mind-boggling 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 degrees Celsius) during the day but plummet to minus 150 degrees (minus 100 degrees Celsius) at night.

Despite its relative proximity to the Earth, Mercury has been little explored because it is the closest planet to the Sun and therefore subject to enormous gravitational pulls and massively high levels of radiation.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110331/ts_afp/usspacenasamercury_20110331022908

[RedCloud]

1. Those radiation levels are not harmful. It;'s just solar progress in action.

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Judi Lynn.