First Results From Messenger's Mercury Flyby

Several readers noted the special section in Science, published today, with results from Messenger's flyby of Mercury last January. One conclusion is that volcanism has shaped the planet, contrary to earlier theories that Mercury had been "dead on arrival." The LA Time's coverage highlights the finding that Mercury has shrunk by a mile in diameter over its lifetime, due to shrinkage at its core.

Comments

Shrinkage

[Anonymous Coward]

In Mercury's defense, it was in the pool.

Re:Shrinkage

[PacketShaper]

Usually the "in the pool" defense is because of low temperature...
I think mercury needs another excuse.

Re:Shrinkage

[g0dsp33d]

They shouldn't have built that large collider at the center of the planet.

Finally

[FurtiveGlancer]

Mercury has been trying to lose a little around the belt line for eons.

Compact

[Aeonite]

All the extra Mercury is in our new lightbulbs.

Discoveries for the taking

[spaceyhackerlady]

This is why we do it. We haven't paid much attention to Mercury, so almost everything there is new, just waiting to be discovered. Who knows what else we will find?

...laura

Re:Discoveries for the taking

[tokul]

We haven't paid much attention to Mercury,

Or it is harder to get to Mercury than to LEO, Moon or Mars.

Re:Discoveries for the taking

[brunokummel]

We haven't paid much attention to Mercury,

Or it is harder to get to Mercury than to LEO, Moon or Mars.

go at night! =)

Re:Discoveries for the taking

[Doug Neal]

This is why we do it. We haven't paid much attention to Mercury, so almost everything there is
new, just waiting to be discovered. Who knows what
else we will find?

Sounds like the floor underneath my couch.

Re:But it has a tail!

[ShieldW0lf]

Reminds me of the "Earth is Growing" theory, offered as an alternative to Plate Tectonics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yqBaD5VwrQ&feature=related

Slightly OT : And still no colour picture!

[4D6963]

All this time after the flyby, and still no real-colour picture of the planet, as they're literally sitting on it. They have entire mosaics of the planet taken in all the probes 11 filters, including red, green and blue filters, and yet they can't be arsed to put those together to finally let use see Mercury in its truest colours!

Also, where are the updated maps of Mercury? You know, ones that would cover more than the 45% of the surface covered by Mariner 10? God I just wish they would release all their raw images just like they did with Cassini-Huygens so that we could do all the cool stuff they can't be bothered to do. And I feel entitled to this as it's all financed with tax payer money, right? (Well, let's ignore the fact that I'm not even American)

Re:Slightly OT : And still no colour picture!

[FurtiveGlancer]

Actually, they did blend a full color picture, but it all ended up a rather unexciting flat gray except for a small arrangement of craters which appear as the number 999 in a reddish brown shade and what appears to be a large white handkerchief. Nothing to worry about though, almost certainly some innocent explanation. ~

Re:Slightly OT : And still no colour picture!

[Loraque]

It is a form of art to make many of those pictures look good.

It may piss you off, just a little, but there is this thing called "dibs".

For sure someone has shotgun too.

And you know guys that can call those are BUSY.

Re:Don't feel bad, mercury

[eln]

WTF, is there really such a thing as penises shrinking with age? :-S

Yes. But don't worry, your balls sag more to compensate.

Re:Don't feel bad, mercury

[BollocksToThis]

Yes. I don't mean to scare you, but I have already reached the big 30, and mine is miniscule. I'm lucky I'm married!

Re:more female geeks needed

[pgillan]

Well, I haven't heard of planets sagging yet.

Are you saying that Venus can still pass the pencil test?

vulcanism & iron defficiency

[heroine]

Volcanic eruptions & iron deficiency sound like a planetary version of Hillary Clinton.