Mercury Rising

In another of those space stories that never cease to amaze me, NASA's Messenger Probe has arrived at Mercury and thus become the first probe to do so. The spacecraft is now some 46 million km (29 million miles) from the Sun, and about 155 million km (96 million miles) from Earth.

How mind blowing is that and what will it find?

Mercury's proximity to the Sun means exposed equator surfaces can reach more than 600C; and yet there may be water-ice at the poles in craters that are in permanent shadow. Mercury also retains a magnetic field, something which is absent on Venus and Mars.

If only we could find away to really travel the Solar System, and the Galaxy to see for ourselves ... maybe to quote the immortal words *"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain .... Time to die."

Ah well, I will just have to feed off photo's and artists impressions .....


Sunrise On Mercury

* Rutger Hauer as the Replicant Roy Batty in Ridley Scott's Cult Film 'Blade Runner'.