Get up early later this week and enjoy a look at the moon plus our sun’s five innermost planets. Later in the year Mars and Jupiter will be easier to spot. But the end of April will be prime time for viewing the planet Mercury. At least from Planet Earth. Did you know that the Messenger spacecraft is currently in orbit and sending back images? At first glance, these images are reminiscent of the moon, but there are subtle differences.
Above image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington. Note the “smile” in the crater. I’m sure somebody somewhere has or will consider this evidence of ET’s trying to get our attention.
Speaking of Dawn, there is a spacecraft by that name closing in on minor planet Vesta. Worth monitoring, that.
