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VIRTUALISATION Mercury data surprises scientists
VIRTUALISATION Mercury data surprises scientists | Mercury data surprises scientists |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Thursday, 31 January 2008 | |
  
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The craft has also revealed that the Caloris basin - a massive impact crater - is around 960 miles (1540km) in diameter, rather than the 800 miles (1290km) estimated by the Mariner 10 mission in the mid 1970s. "This flyby allowed us to see a part of the planet never before viewed by spacecraft, and our little craft has returned a gold mine of exciting data," said Sean Solomon, MESSENGER's principal investigator, Carnegie Institution of Washington. Instruments on the probe have provided new information about Mercury's magnetic field and surface composition. MESSENGER will make two more flybys of Mercury before it settles into orbit in 2011. |
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