MESSENGER Spacecraft Impacts Mercury

Hey Space Placers!

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft impacted the surface of Mercury - see my previous blog for background - as expected on April 30th at 3:26 p.m. EDT. As a result a new 52-foot crater was created.

We learned a lot about Mercury because of MESSENGER.

Here is the last picture transmitted by MESSENGER.

Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Mercury will be in the western sky soon so we can all look at the golden yellow-ish colored planet and remember this intrepid and highly successful spacecraft.

Sky Guy in VA