On Monday, 13 January, 2008, the NASA probe MESSENGER snapped this photo of Mercury, the first time in history anyone's seen this hidden side of the planet. Because of its rotational peculiarities and proximity to the sun, this face of Mercury has never before been photographed.
"More unprecedented images of the tiny planet are expected as the MESSENGER craft completes three flybys of Mercury before settling into orbit in March 2011."
MESSENGER is the first spacecraft to visit Mercury (messenger of the gods in Greek myth) since the Mariner 10 probe in the 1970s. Awesome! Go NASA!
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