수성 / NASA 우주탐사선 '메신저' 로부터 도착한 '수성' 첫 사진

MESSENGER Returns Images from Oct. 6. 2008  Mercury Fly-By

Mercury’s “True” Color Is in the Eye of the Beholder
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS).
Given the WAC’s ability to take images through 11 narrow-band color filters, it is natural to wonder what does Mercury look like in “true” color such as would be seen by the human eye.


수성 주위를 돌면서 다양한 정보를 지구로 보내야 하는 임무를 가지고 홀로 여행을 떠난 NASA 우주탐사선 메신저가 
2008년 10월 6일 4 : 40 AM 경 수성 상공 근처 125마일 (약 200km) 까지 접근했다고 합니다.

위의 사진은 1 : 50 AM 경부터 메신져가 지구에 보낸 가장 최신의 사진중 한 장입니다.

수성이라고 말하면 태양계에서 제일 작고, 태양에서 가장 가까운 별입니다. 눈과 그림으로 봐왔던 수성을 이렇게 세세하고, 상세한 곳까지 볼 수 있는 초고해상도로 찍을 수 있는 기술을 인류가 가지고 있다는 것 자체가 대단할 따름입니다.

Exposing Mercury’s Colors
The right image was created by statistically comparing and contrasting images taken through all 11 of the WAC’s narrow-band color filters, which are sensitive to light not only in the visible portion of the spectrum but also to light that the human eye cannot see


수성의 클로즈 업 촬영은 매리너 10호 탐사 미션이 최초로 성공 했지만, 당시는 접근하여 통과중에 한 면만을 찍혔을 뿐 카메라도 해상도가 낮았고, 직경 0.99마일(1593m) 에서의 촬영은 이루어지지도 않았습니다.

그것이 이번 메신져가 광각 카메라와 협각 카메라의 해상도는 직경59피트(17m) 로, 촬영이 가능했다는 것이죠. 태양의 광열이 걱정이었지만 회전하는 태양 전지판의 덕분으로 온도, 발전량, 다층 단열 시스템의 밸런스를 유지하면서 촬영을 지속할 수 있었다고 합니다.

A Small Crater Makes a Bright Impact
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS).
A bright feature is clearly visible in the northern portion of the crescent-shaped Mercury. This NAC image resolves details of this bright feature, showing that it surrounds a small crater about 30 kilometers (19 miles) in diameter, seen nearly edge-on.

Mercury

Mercury is the planet nearest the sun. It has a diameter of 3,032 miles (4,879 kilometers), about two-fifths of Earth's diameter. Mercury orbits the sun at an average distance of about 36 million miles (58 million kilometers), compared with about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) for Earth.

Because of Mercury's size and nearness to the brightly shining sun, the planet is often hard to see from the Earth without a telescope. At certain times of the year, Mercury can be seen low in the western sky just after sunset. At other times, it can be seen low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.

The planet Mercury was first photographed in detail on March 29, 1974, by the U.S. probe Mariner 10. The probe was about 130,000 miles (210,000 kilometers) from Mercury. It was programmed to fly by the planet three times to take images of its heavily-cratered surface. But the spacecraft saw essentially the same side of the planet on each pass.

Mercury's surface appears to be much like that of the moon. It reflects approximately 6 percent of the sunlight it receives, about the same as the moon's surface reflects. Like the moon, Mercury is covered by a thin layer of minerals called silicates in the form of tiny particles. It also has broad, flat plains; steep cliffs; and many deep craters similar to those on the moon.

The craters formed when meteors or small comets crashed into the planet. Mercury does not have enough atmosphere to slow down meteoroids and burn them up by friction. The Caloris Basin, Mercury's largest crater, measures about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) across.

The surface of Mercury consists of cratered terrain and smooth plains.

메신저 MESSENGER
MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging spacecraft 의 앞글자를 딴 MESSENGER

MESSENGER is the first mission sent to orbit the planet closest to the sun. On Oct. 6, 2008, at roughly 4:40 a.m. ET, MESSENGER flew by Mercury for the second time this year.

During the encounter, the probe swung just 125 miles (200 kilometers) above the cratered surface of Mercury, snapping hundreds of pictures and collecting a variety of other data from the planet as it gains a critical gravity assist that keeps the probe on track to become the first spacecraft ever to orbit the innermost planet beginning in March 2011.

NASA's MESSENGER Web Site



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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/main/
http://kr.blog.yahoo.com/kabuto1ok/150?c=1