A friendly observing reminder: this week marks a good opportunity to catch a glimpse of elusive Mercury in the morning as it shares the stage with neighboring Venus. On the Thursday the 10th and Friday the 11th, Mercury will hover just below its brighter counterpart as the two reach roughly 2° of separation. (Map, […]

Immediately on the heels of a successful orbital insertion two days ago, the European Space Agency today released the spacecraft’s first views of Venus. While I was eagerly anticipating the first Venus Express release from ESA, I was not expecting we’d receive imagery, data, and scientists’ first impressions so quickly (VE should begin its full […]

Image Credit: ESA
The European Space Agency’s Venus Express spacecraft is all set to enter orbit around our planetary neighbor. The orbital insertion begins approximately 15 hours from the time of this posting, 11 April 2006, 08:32:47 UT. If all goes according to plan, Venus Express will begin its full science operations June 4th, after undergoing […]