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Venus Departure Sequence
After acquiring hundreds of high-resolution images during close approach
to Venus, MESSENGER turned its wide-angle camera back to the planet and
acquired a departure sequence. These images provide a spectacular good-bye
to the cloud-shrouded planet while also providing valuable data to the
camera calibration team. MESSENGER was 60,688 kilometers (37,710 miles)
from the planet at the start of the sequence and 89,310 kilometers (55,495
miles) at the end. Initially, images were acquired at a rate of one of
every 20 minutes, and then as Venus shrank the timing interval was
increased to 60 minutes.
The first image was taken June 6 at 12:58 UTC (8:58 p.m. EDT on June 5),
and the final image on June 7 at 02:18 UTC (10:18 p.m. EDT on June 6).
During this 25 hour, 20 minute period the spacecraft traveled 833,234
kilometers (517,748 miles-more than twice the distance from the Earth to
the Moon) with respect to Venus at an average speed of 9.13 kilometers per
second (5.67 miles per second).
These images represent the last view of Venus by MESSENGER, but they also
point toward the spacecraft's first encounter with Mercury in January 2008.
Departure sequence consists of MDIS frames EW0089578826F through
EW0089670026F (430-nm wavelength filter).
These images are from MESSENGER, a NASA Discovery mission to conduct the
first orbital study of the innermost planet, Mercury. For information
regarding the use of images, see the MESSENGER image use policy.
