Mercury Ready For A Rare Close-Up

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

From USA Today:

Mercury gets a close look Monday, when NASA's Messenger spacecraft slings 142 miles over the puny planet closest to the sun. For mission scientists, it's a festive occasion.

"A planetary flyby is very much like Christmas morning for the science team. We know there are presents under the tree," says Messenger principal investigator Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "We expect to be surprised and we expect to be delighted."

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