. Earth Science News .
MESSENGER Dances By Matisse

-
by Staff Writers
Baltimore MD (SPX) Jan 24, 2008
As MESSENGER approached Mercury on January 14, 2008, the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) snapped this image of the crater Matisse. Named for the French artist Henri Matisse, the Matisse crater was imaged during the Mariner 10 mission and is about 210 kilometers (130 miles) in diameter.

Matisse crater is in the southern hemisphere and can be seen near the terminator of the planet (the line between the sunlit, day side and the dark, night side) in both the color and single-filter, black-and-white images released previously that show an overview of the entire incoming side of Mercury.

On Mercury, craters are named for people, now deceased, who have made contributions to the humanities, such as artists, musicians, painters, and authors. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) oversees the official process of naming new craters and other new features discovered on bodies throughout the solar system.

Scientists studying and mapping unnamed features can suggest names for consideration by the IAU. The 1,213 images taken by MESSENGER during its first flyby encounter with Mercury cover a large region of Mercury's surface previously unseen by spacecraft, revealing many new craters and other features that will need to be named.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
MESSENGER Mercury Flyby
Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


SAIC Subsidiary Awarded GSA Blanket Purchase Agreement To Support TACAMO Program
McLean VA (SPX) Jan 22, 2008
Science Applications International announced that its subsidiary, Eagan, McAllister Associates (EMA) has won a contract from the Naval Air Systems Command to support the U.S. Navy's E-6B Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO)/Airborne Command Post (ABNCP) Survivable Mobile Command Center (SMCC) program. This new multiple-award blanket purchase agreement (BPA) contract has a five-year period of performance and a total ceiling value of $23 million.







  • Analysis: Promising aid program faces cuts
  • Weary civilians at mercy of Gaza conflict
  • Philippines: Japan lends 174.6 million dlrs for volcano relief
  • Natural disasters taking greater global toll, UN report

  • IPCC chief disappointed by EU climate change plan
  • EU threatens trade partners over global warming
  • NGOs cool on EU climate change targets
  • EU to unveil climate plan amid industry, national hostility

  • SPACEHAB Subsidiary Wins NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory Contract
  • Radical New Lab Fights Disease Using Satellites
  • SKorea decides to terminate satellite: space agency
  • Japanese satellite flops at map-making: official

  • Analysis: Brazil strikes gas again
  • China, India among worst environmental performers: study
  • Europe's polluters warn of high price for EU green plan
  • EU sets national renewable energy targets for 2020

  • Epidemic superbug strains evolved from one bacterium: study
  • Researchers Put The Bite On Mosquitoes
  • Exploration Of Lake Hidden Beneath Antarctica's Ice Sheet Begins
  • Monkey Malaria Widespread In Humans And Potentially Fatal

  • Giant genome sequencing project announced
  • Bouncing Back From The Brink
  • Marsupial Lion Tops African Lion In Fight To Death
  • Predators Do More Than Kill Prey

  • LSU, Yale Team Study Agricultural Impact On Mississippi River
  • Fog causing high dust levels in Bulgaria: environmental agency
  • Naples under 3,500 tonnes of garbage as strike endures
  • Japanese media criticises companies over fake 'recycled' goods

  • Higher China fines for stars breaking one-child rule: state media
  • Fueling And Feeding Bigfoot
  • English to be the world's 'language of choice': British PM
  • Contact Lenses With Circuits Lights A Possible Platform For Superhuman Vision

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement