Welcome to the MESSENGER Education and Public Outreach homepage!
- New: Magnetic tornadoes on Mercury? Learn about this strange phenomenon in this ScienceNews article written "For Kids."
- Read more about the MESSENGER Fellows that attended the third and final Mercury flyby here!
- What is a flyby? What does it do for the spacecraft? Explore the Gravity Asssist Simulator to learn more here!
- Learn about the latest news and information from the MESSENGER mission using the RSS feed. See it here!
- Listen to the "Mercury Close Encounter for the Third Time" podcast, one of the 365 Days of Astronomy daily podcasts of the International Year of Astronomy HERE.
- New: Vote for your favorite planet (which is Mercury, of course, right?) here.
- New: A new Solar System lithograph set from NASA that is down-loadable as a set or individually here.
New and interesting links:
Mission update: Third flyby sets path for orbit in 2011
MESSENGER successfully flew by Mercury on September 29th, gaining a critical gravity assist that will enable it to enter orbit about Mercury in 2011 and capturing images of five percent of the planet never before seen. With more than 90 percent of the planet’s surface already imaged, MESSENGER’s science team had drafted an ambitious observation campaign designed to tease out additional details from features uncovered during the first two flybys. But an unexpected signal loss prior to closest approach hampered those plans. [more]
The striking view at right was captured on September 29th, as the spacecraft approached Mercury for the mission’s third flyby of the Solar System’s innermost planet. This Wide Angle Camera (WAC) image shows portions of Mercury’s surface that had remained unseen by spacecraft even after the three flybys by Mariner 10 in 1974-75 and MESSENGER’s two earlier flybys in 2008. Learn more about this and other images!
About the MESSENGER Education and Public Outreach website
In developing this site, educators, scientists, and engineers are working together to bring the exciting science of MESSENGER to everyone. Here you will find a wealth of resources about the planet Mercury and about the MESSENGER mission. If you are a student or teacher make sure you check out the special sections containing educational materials and opportunities.
The MESSENGER Education and Public Outreach Team
The MESSENGER education and public outreach program is conducted by a dedicated team of individuals and organizations with a long track record in space science education in both formal (classroom) and informal (museum and science center) settings. Read about the partner organizations here
Do you tweet? Follow the MESSENGER mission on Twitter by clicking here or selecting an update, below...
MESSENGER2011 Twitter Updates
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Do you ever wonder where Mercury is now? Satisfy your curiosity and find out here!|
