This image, taken with the TAROT CNES telescope (Latitude: 43.75deg N - Longitude: 6.92deg E) in southeastern France, reveals the position of MESSENGER as a streak of light near the center. At the time that the image was taken, 20:16:39 UTC (8:16 pm), the MESSENGER spacecraft was about 21,640 km above the eastern Atlantic Ocean near the western coast of Africa - due west of Luanda, Angola and due south of Cote d'Ivoire. Photo credit:

Régis Bertrand, B. Deguine and S. Rios-Bergantinos, CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales)