Mercury Update - New findings

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MeteorWayne

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Thanks Wayne,I see that we are 'only' upto two thirds. The initial info I had was that MESSENGER inceased the coverage to 75%. Obviously that is not so. AFAIK from October, the coverage will increase to approx 97%, unless that is now wrong (I hope not).If thatr 97% figure is correct, than the pass in October will reveal more new ground than the one back in January.&nbsp;One thing is that a swathe of newly imaged terrain, although seeable will be severely foreshortened. Wonder why they do not make this one a day time pass. Periherm is very brief, so I would not expect reflected heat to be a huge problem for such a short time?Andrew Brown.&nbsp; <br />Posted by 3488</DIV><br /><br />I believe the reason is the physics required to lose the proper amount of energy.</p><p>The first flyby put the ratio of Mercury's to the spacecraft's orbit of about 2:3, the next will make the ratio 3:4, and the final 5:6. That's how it meets up with Mercury again. The amount of velocity to be lost is pretty exact.</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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3488

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#ff0000">I believe the reason is the physics required to lose the proper amount of energy.The first flyby put the ratio of Mercury's to the spacecraft's orbit of about 2:3, the next will make the ratio 3:4, and the final 5:6. That's how it meets up with Mercury again. The amount of velocity to be lost is pretty exact.&nbsp; <br /> Posted by MeteorWayne</font></DIV></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Thank you again Wayne,</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>I thought you would have the answer. I wondered if it had to be that finely tuned, because we're only talking of only a little more than Mercury's own diameter from a night time to a day time pass, but I was aware that there was concern about reflected heat from the hermean surface at periherm during the orbital mission, hense periherm being over the northern hemisphere, away from the sub solar point on the equator (also of course Caloris is north of the equator) & apoherm over the southern hemisphere (hense the ESA Bepi Columbo carrying extra mass for insulation).</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>It goes to show how effective this approach is, MESSENGER losing approx 8,000 KPH during each Mercury encounter (adding up to almost the orbital velocity of the ISS around Earth) by just using Mercury's gravity (which is very strong for an object of that size) & getting some amazing science in the process.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Great stuff, this really is. </strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Andrew Brown.&nbsp;</strong></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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3488

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<p><font size="2" color="#000000"><strong>Very interesting indeed.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2" color="#000080"><strong>Update & wider context view of volcano in S W Caloris Basin.</strong></font><br /> <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/10/15/ca67b56e-b216-45e3-bffa-2a1e5fc09409.Medium.jpg" alt="" /><br />&nbsp;</p><p><font size="2" color="#000000"><strong>Andrew Brown.&nbsp;</strong></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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