Planet Mercury From Pale Pink Dot to Dynamic World

A new and detailed picture of Mercury is emerging thanks to NASA’s MESSENGER mission that spent four years in orbit about the Sun’s innermost planet. Comprehensively illustrated by close-up images and other data, the author describes Mercury’s landscapes

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Planet Mercury From Pale Pink Dot to Dynamic World

Planet Mercury

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/4097

David A. Rothery

Planet Mercury From Pale Pink Dot to Dynamic World

David A. Rothery Department of Physical Sciences The Open University Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

ISBN 978-3-319-12116-1 ISBN 978-3-319-12117-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-12117-8 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2014955656 © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Cover Figure: Mercury at 90 rotation intervals, as seen by MESSENGER in exaggerated colour and put in front of a SOHO image of the Sun. Mercury Images Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics. Background Image Credit: SOHO (ESA & NASA) Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Preface

My acquaintance with Mercury goes back a number of years, long before we had intimate views of it like the one in Fig. 1. I first saw it as a schoolboy from my parents’ home in Kings Norton, Birmingham, on 14 February 1974 (I still have my observing logbook). I had found out that Mercury was approaching elongation, and on a rare evening with no cloud on the horizon, I swept the sky with my trusty 7  50 binoculars above w