Messenger Spacecraft Sends First Mercury Images and Begins 12 Month Science Mission

NASA's Messenger spacecraft has sent back its first images of Mercury and has embarked on a yearlong mission to study the planet.

These are the first photos of Mercury that have ever been obtained by a craft in orbit around Mercury.

The spacecraft delivered its first image of the solar system's innermost planet on March 29, 2011.

Messenger, which entered Mercury's orbit on March 17, 2011, took the photo at 5:20 AM EDT, using its Mercury Dual Imaging System.

The image, which was taken over the South Pole of the planet, reveals parts of Mercury's surface that have never been seen before.

On April 4, Messenger began a one year campaign to study Mercury.

Over the year, the Messenger spacecraft will orbit the Mercury over 700 times (two times during every Earth day) as it captures data about the planet's geology, geochemistry, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

Since one solar day (from sunrise to sunrise) Mercury equals 176 days on Earth, the year-long (by Earth standards) research campaign will last for just two days on Mercury.

This means that a spot on the surface will only have the correct lighting conditions two times during the mission- each of these six months apart.

Messenger is the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.