DTM’s Larry Nittler and Sean Solomon reported early scientific findings from MESSENGER’s orbital observations of Mercury at a news conference held at NASA Headquarters today at 1 p.m. EDT.  Other MESSENGER panelists were Brett Denevi and Ralph McNutt, Jr., from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

After nearly three months in orbit about Mercury, MESSENGER’s payload is providing a wealth of new information, as well as a few surprises.   More than twenty thousand images reveal major features on the planet in high resolution for the first time.  This week, MESSENGER completed its first perihelion passage from orbit on Sunday, its first Mercury year in orbit on Monday, its first superior solar conjunction from orbit on Tuesday, and its first orbit-correction maneuver on Wednesday.

For more information, see Carnegie’s press release.