Planetary Society logo
  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

Mercury's getting bigger...

Emily Lakdawalla

Written by Emily Lakdawalla
January 11, 2008

Here's the next view from MESSENGER, taken 34 hours after the one I posted yesterday...I'll resist the urge to make an animation of the two images, waiting to see if any more will be released prior to the start of the flyby timeline at 13:04 (5:04 my time) Sunday .

MESSENGER approaches Mercury

NASA / JHUAPL / CIW

MESSENGER approaches Mercury
MESSENGER snapped this image of a crescent Mercury through its narrow-angle camera on January 10 at 21:06 UTC when it was about 2 million kilometers from the planet. In this image, processing reveals a couple of craters, including Matisse south of the equator.

Support our core enterprises

Your gift today will go far to help us close out the year strong and keep up our momentum in 2026.

Donate