Mercury - New Insights

Lecture Report

Dr. David Rothery, Open University
Monday 12 April 2010

Mercury

On Monday night the basement of the SNIAM building in Trinity College was packed to near capacity to hear Dr. David Rothery's talk on Mercury, the innermost planet of the Solar System. Guests were treated to amazing images of Mercury and shown how Mercury has a large iron core but has surprisingly little iron on it's surface.
Dr. Rothery also showed how behind a superficial façade of similarity to our own Moon, Mercury's origin close to the Sun and subsequent evolution have given it a complex volcanic and tectonic history, and a dynamic exosphere.

The history of Mercury's exploration was described, starting with the first images from NASA's Mariner 10 mission before showing how NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft and spectra obtained by telescopes have provided tantalising glimpses of the riches to come when MESSENGER achieves orbit in 2011, paving the way for the Europe-Japan BepiColombo orbiters in 2020.

David joined guests afterwards in the Lombard where discussions continued over some complimentary food.

Photos from the Lecture

David Moore thanking Dr. David Rothery

The Lecture Room

Dr. David Rothery

Dr. David Rothery is presented with a gift

David Moore presents our raffle winner with his prize

Discussions in the Lombard

For those who couldn't make it to this fascinating lecture, a DVD is available for everyone all over Ireland.
This lecture is available to people nationwide on DVD, which you can order by credit card online HERE or by calling (01) 847 0777 (alternatively post a cheque or postal order to: April 2010 DVD, Astronomy Ireland, PO. Box 2888, Dublin 5). DVDs of this and past lectures are just €7 each (add €5 for P&P for any number of DVDs).

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Acknowledgment: Astronomy Ireland would like to thank the TCD Astrophysics Research Group for hosting AI public lectures in Trinity College Dublin.