MESSENGER Captures Spectacular Earth Images
NASA – The pictures from MESSENGER’s Aug. 2 flyby of Earth are in ““ and they are spectacular!
The collection includes “natural” color and infrared views of North and South America; a peek at the Galapagos Islands through a break in the clouds; and a movie of the rotating Earth, taken as MESSENGER sped away from its home planet.
The close flyby of the Earth and Moon allowed the MESSENGER spacecraft to give its two cameras, known as the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS), a thorough workout.
The images were planned to enable scientists to understand fully how the cameras are operating in flight in comparison with test results obtained in the laboratory before launch. Images were taken in full color and at different resolutions, and the cameras passed their tests with flying colors.
Not only are these images useful for carefully calibrating the imaging system in preparation for the spacecraft’s Mercury encounters, but they have also shown a unique view of the Earth.
Clear skies over much of South America allow features such as the Amazon, the Andes and Lake Titicaca to be discerned, as well as huge swaths of rain forest.
One of the highlights of the returned images is a movie, comprised of hundreds of color images taken over a 24-hour period, showing one full rotation of the Earth.
“We are thrilled with the images from the flyby, which have demonstrated that MDIS is performing exactly as planned,” said Louise Prockter, MESSENGER’s deputy instrument scientist, who planned the observations.
“The movie has brought home to me the contrast between our beautiful ocean-covered, cloud-wreathed Earth and our destination planet Mercury ““ a world on which lead would melt on the daytime surface near the equator but one on which ice may be stable for eons on the shadowed floors of polar craters. We have much to learn about a planet that, although one of our nearest neighbors in the solar system, differs profoundly from Earth in bulk composition and geologic history. The tests we carried out during the Earth flyby show that our cameras are well up to the task of unlocking many of Mercury’s secrets.”
Earth Departure Movie
The Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft captured several stunning images of Earth during a gravity assist swingby of its home planet on Aug. 2, 2005.
Several hundred images, taken with the wide-angle camera in MESSENGER’s Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS), were sequenced into a movie documenting the view from MESSENGER as it departed Earth.
Comprising 358 frames taken over 24 hours, the movie follows Earth through one complete rotation.
The spacecraft was 40,761 miles (65,598 kilometers) above South America when the camera started rolling on Aug. 2. It was 270,847 miles (435,885 kilometers) away from Earth ““ farther than the Moon’s orbit ““ when it snapped the last image on Aug. 3.
Earth rotation (4.90 MB) or Earth rotation with date and time (5.78 MB).
About MESSENGER
MESSENGER is a scientific investigation ““ by spacecraft ““ of the planet Mercury. The name comes from “MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, Geochemistry, and Ranging,” highlighting the project’s broad range of scientific goals.
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