The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a new set of photos captured by the BepiColombo probe that showcases some very clear images of Mercury as well as "tectonic and volcanic curiosities."
Yesterday I spent the day out with my family at Paraparumu beach, part of the idyllic Kapiti Coast on the Lower West Coast of the North Island, New Zealand. The long flat coastline is perfect for a day out with the family, and the coast features the iconic Kapiti Island, which is a prominent subject for anyone who likes to take photos.
Imagine being able to swap between medium format, instant film, digital full-frame, and even large format 4x5 at will—a single camera that could handle it all AND let you use almost any lens you want. What you're imagining is already in the works, and it's called the Mercury camera.
Mercury just passed between the Earth and the Sun yesterday, a rare "planetary transit" that occurs about 13 times every 100 years. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft shot highly detailed photos of the astronomical event, and the beautiful time-lapse above is what resulted.
NASA's MESSENGER mission came to an end yesterday after the space probe slammed into Mercury's surface at about 8,750 mph. The photo above is the last photo that was sent back to scientists on Earth before impact.
Here's an interesting fact: thousands of photos were still on the MESSENGER when it was destroyed -- images that we will never get a chance to lay eyes on.
In August of 2005, one year after being launched into space, the NASA spacecraft MESSENGER performed a gravity assist swing-by of our little blue planet. As it drifted away from Earth on its way to Mercury, MESSENGER proceeded to capture hundreds of stunning photos, many of which have been compiled into this amazing time-lapse view of Earth.
After a seven year journey that involved being slingshotted around the planets in our solar system, NASA's MESSENGER probe entered Mercury's orbit on March 17th, 2011. Yesterday the probe beamed back the first photograph ever taken of the planet from orbit (seen above).