June, 2005
MESSENGER
| Images courtesy of NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington |
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Image of the Earth taken by the MESSENGER spacecraft on May 11, 2005, at a distance of 29.6 million kilometers (18.4 million miles). |
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Image of the Earth taken by a Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) on May 11, 2005, at a distance of 35,800 kilometers (22,300 miles). |
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View of the MESSENGER image combined with the GOES image. The new combined image reveals that the bright white areas in the MESSENGER image are actually clouds high in Earth's atmosphere. |
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MESSENGER, the MErcury Surface, Space
ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging mission, was launched
on August 3, 2004. Entering orbit around Mercury in 2011, the spacecraft will study the planet and its
environment for one Earth year. To reach Mercury, MESSENGER will perform flybys of the Earth and Venus to adjust its trajectory. The first leg of the journey will be completed when the spacecraft performs a flyby of Earth on August 2, 2005. On May 11, 2005, MESSENGER captured this image of our Earth and Moon. Taken 29.6 million kilometers (18.4 million miles) away, it is the first planetary image obtained by the spacecraft. |
| More Information about MESSENGER | |
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