@SuppleMonkey: Err, 2 rather.

<<abort failed joke attempt>>

SuppleMonkey

@.endejas.:

Thirded

Roggin, you can go to hell.

radeon21

Awww... Mercury has an "outie."

SuppleMonkey

@Geisrud: WHAT??? It is perfectly ok to have a post comments laced with F-Bombs but if you make a perfectly clean play on words you get Disemvowled?? Are you kidding me??

Mr.SithNinja

It looks like the moon to me

meh....

xsecretfiles3

@.endejas.: Seconded, can't get enough NASA and DARPA

Duke

Looks like Mercury has taken more than its share of hits for the team. Good thing we have this orbital deflector around to keep Earth safe..

Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude

i bet nasa edited the shit out of this picture so that we cant see anything cool like startrekie objects :@

killermicrobe

I'm always happy to see NASA articles as well, or just space related news in general. Thanks for posting this!

GTgeek

It looks like it has stretch marks.

siville

@Mr.SithNinja: apparently, it didn't have to be done.

Geisrud

Its beautiful. (Its also my ruling planet astrologically.)

Curves

I wuv space stuff.

dnyyanks62

WOOOOW beautiful photo!

RE-L

m mr ntrstd n sng fly by f rns.

(srry hd t b dn....)

Mr.SithNinja

@.endejas.: That's unfortunate

Roggin

If that photo is real then its pretty cool. The resolution is amazing.

ThiMamakakris120890

Hmm, MESSENGER, sounds sexy...

But no, I loves me some space tech...

Con Seannery

NASA is soooo cool!!

churchstreet

I love it when you guys post on NASA stuff. It's probably the highlight of my day everytime.

.endejas.

These are awesome pics, but has anybody been able to get some kind of update on the 3-meter NEO (near earth object) that was supposed to burn up over Sudan last night? Nobody seems to have any info from post-impact.

Phenostar

@xsecretfiles3: That's no moon.

No, really, it's a planet.

Phenostar

@.endejas.: Same!

Kharnellius

That's weird... I don't see Vin Diesel running away from the light.

ripfire

@.endejas: Thirded on Roggin going to hell.

While NASA posts don't make the highlights of my day, they are a nice break from the non-stop strings of Apple and Lego related posts.

mrtallbones

How much taxpayer money was wasted on coming up with the fakronym? That had to be at least four days of committee meetings.

OMG! Ponies!

@Mr.SithNinja: Inappropriateness has nothing to do with expletives.

ripfire

@Curves: Astrology is for idiots.

middy

@.endejas.: seconded on Roggin going to hell.

avconsumer2

@Mr.SithNinja: strike one.

Tirko™

@Phenostar: Impossible, it's too big to be a...damn, doesn't work.

Null42

This censorship thing is starting to piss me off. If there is a comment you don't like, you reply to it in response to it as to why you feel is disemvowel worthy. So some guy makes a dirty comment, you guys (Giz) do it all the time.

daftrok

@Phenostar: Shhh. Keep talking like that, "they" will eventually catch you.

ripfire

@ripfire: That's ridiculous, I don't know what you're being so paranoijf ipquvhuuuuuuu-[h

Phenostar

@ripfire: From this point forward it shall be refered to as "The Planet Of Which We Do Not Speak It's Name On Gizmodo." (or TPOWWDNSINOG for short).

Mr.SithNinja

I was hoping it would look more like fire and death. In every picture I have seen in books its colored red. But artists interpretations are never accurate.

DarkHavoc99

@Mr.SithNinja: Heh. I was wondering what you said in the comment.

ripfire

@Tirko™: I guess so. :-(

@Mr.SithNinja: Note to self:

Don't make any more comments that references a certain planet's name that sounds like the clinical term for a human body part.

Mr.SithNinja

wow what a bleak planet! kind of depressing.

MrBlahBlah

i wonder how many millions they spent on that acronym, or do they just have too much spare time. anyway, giz, messenger should be in capitals, no?

citizen024

@.endejas.: Yeah yeah, Roggin to hell!

NASA rules faces. The Mars sunset pics make my pants tight.

v0ice

Hot!!!

Literally.

Noobs-R-Us

@middy: So are people who toss around pointless insults.

balloondoggle

Nice pic.
Looks like Aliens have been using it for target practice.

Razta

Umm.... nevermind. "The" and "a" slipped the filters.

four12

@ravedown: Sounds like someone was overlooked for the junior astronaut program. j/k
In all seriousness, NASA might not be the most frugal entity, but we have to be in space. More oversight would be great, though.

v0ice

"This is the first time in history that the whole planet is going to be photographed in its entirety by an Earthling probe"

Ummm... no. Earth has been completely photographed in excruciating detail.

four12

Looks moonish.

frigg

@v0ice: i too am no fan of nasa- waste of $$$ and have become a bloated science club for bureaucratic nerds.the private sector is kicking their ass as well it should. times up nasa..thanks for the "cool" pictures.

ravedown

I wonder, in that second photo with the engineers working on the satellite, if that loudspeaker on the back wall is continuously piping out musings and encouragement from Adam West.

LastVigilante

@Mr.SithNinja: Can't we just call it 'first rock from the sun'?

Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude

ye, all these planets don't have a magnetosphere, that's why they get fucked.

mars is not terraformable becasue it can't retain an atmosphere.

The only planets that can be goodly terraformed are saturn, jupiter, uranus, neptune and their moons.

gothamdarkknight

@middy: So you're more of a Scientology person, aren't you...?

Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude

anyone know where i can find these in a decent resolution? i was looking around the NASA website and i couldn't find any messenger pictures good enough for a 1440x900.

jbhitter24

@gothamdarkknight: "The only planets that can be goodly terraformed are saturn, jupiter"

1. Saturn and Jupiter are gas giants and therefore not really candidates for terraforming

2. "...can be goodly terraformed..."

four12

Is that photo Black&White. I though Mercury was reddish color.

vgart

@.endejas.: Roggin's going to Mercury.

markarian

@middy: Thank you Middy, but whats your excuse?

Curves

whatever. We didn't go to Mercury. How come there's no stars in the background! And that flag is flapping in the wind! What wind!?

I bet it's hot there.

Boring little planet. Too bad fella. Don't worry, we won't do to you what we did to Pluto, though.

nobodyzhome

@radeon21: I also agree that Roggin can go to hell.

bbfreak

@ravedown: The private sector is kicking their ass? O.o Really? With what exactly?

Oh, and since the private sector is kicking their ass, their must clearly be profit in space exploration! Would you gladly list every private spacecraft to leave earth's orbit, and then you know do NASA's job of exploration better? Thank you.

bbfreak

@balloondoggle:
I love it when the geek in shining armor steps in to help the damsel in distress. How heroic, you might actually get a girlfriend now!

estephanovich

All I have to say is, thank The Flying Spaghetti Monster for us having atmosphere... I'm off to worship some rigatoni.

D.E.P.C.

But will it be as cool as that movie Sunshine?

DavidFromCanada

I think it's cute....

and..it does look like a giant gray orange....

Michaelwon

@gothamdarkknight: Mercury has a very light atmosphere. Venus has an atmosphere (its extreme greenhouse effect makes it the hottest planet in the solar system). Every planet past the asteroid belt has no terra to form.

badhatharry

Nice grayscale photo. Did they use a high res polaroid 1960's black and white camera? Geez, if you're going to send a satellite a million miles, the least NASA could do is to strap a decent Sony color point and shoot on it. Or perhaps it's so dark it's on visible in black and white. How come no lava and melting stuff?

eljefewatson

@.endejas.: me too!

Ariel_Wollinger

@Mr.SithNinja: 'Tis a lame joke, but i've seen far more offensive things go by untouched since the dismevowleing became policy. Got me stumped.

jbang

I can haz tax munniez back?

Seriously, when was the last time anyone gave a shit about Mercury?

Hintzyboy

Hmmm... looks an awful lot like the dark side of the moon!

(The actual moon, not the Pink Floyd album)

You sure they didn't just snap a few pics there and SAY they flew by Mercury, then pocketed the extra gas money?

EricAlder

@estephanovich: Get over yourself. I am no damsel in distress and can take perfect care of myself. I dont know balloondoggle (though he seems nice) and he was just expressing his opinion, same as you. Pretty sure he has girlfriends o'plenty while I am betting you have none at all and are jealous of his abiltity to relate to women.

Curves

@Mr.SithNinja: Well, I think Senor Diaz may have some issues that make him overly protective of that part of his anatomy. Thus, he would prefer that no one, especially a NASA spacecraft, "fly by" that region.

Although, frankly, I have no interest in seeing that either. Ew.

ps61318

@gothamdarkknight: Mercury also has a very weak magnetic field.

nightsky

@four12: Holy crap! Why does your face look just like J.P. Patches? Was there an accident?

nightsky

How is MESSENGER going to take pictures of the dark side of Mercury? It's in a captive orbit, like the moon, and one side always faces the sun. I suppose it will use some odd wavelengths to get that; should be very interesting.

ps61318

@.endejas.: i approve on the approval given by all those who have approved that Roggin be sent to hell!!

unztopable

@Raikkenon: Careful there, Kimi. MrSithNinja got disemvowled for making the same joke in what has to be the most ridiculous disemvowelment in history.

And sorry about your title chances, but maybe if you can manage to not crash out in the last four laps of a race, you'd still be in it. And maybe if Ferrari stuck to a guy on a lollipop, Massa'd be less than seven points down.

(Sorry. I'm a big Ferrari fan, but I'm pissed at them right now.)

badhatharry

im more interested to check out the crevices on uranus

Raikkenon

@frigg:
that's no moon...

goochillini

@unztopable: So which is it, hell or Mercury?

Roggin

Don't you think those NASA techies in the other picture would just know which direction is WEST, without having it shouted to them in gigantic letters on the wall?

yrwola

That poor little satelite got screwed. Having to go to the sun and all.

chumleyex

@Curves: Zing!

Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude

@Curves: i agree!!

sean123456

@ps61318: That is one of the things that is wrong with the disemvowelment system. The writer of the article shouldn't be the one to say what is appropriate and what isn't in regards to comments. It makes the entire process way too subjective. That is how you get highly offensive posts that go untouched in one article and something that was no where near as offensive disemvoweled in another article by a different author. I know that The Consumerist has a comments moderator that handles the disemvowelments and banhammers, Kotaku does as well. Maybe Gizmodo needs one also, given that right now the decision about what gets censored and what doesn't is based solely on the mood and the whim of each writer.

Mr.SithNinja

Looks like an ordinary Death Star to me...

j05hu4

@badhatharry: Very true, and I didn't even mention "crevices". All I asked for was a fly by. But I guess Mr. Diaz only cares about what shows up on the first page of comments in his articles.

Mr.SithNinja

Wow, that thing looks as big as a planet! LOL

Gary_7vn

Wow they have canals on Mercury! Wait...this looks like it was faked in some Hollywood soundstage!

sqp

@chumleyex: No, it's cool, he only goes there at night.

Yuk yuk.

badhatharry

@Mr.SithNinja: Or he is simply less grumpy now.

badhatharry

@balloondoggle: People who toss around pointless insults are for idiots?

... OK

middy

@Mr.SithNinja: I like Gizmodo, but normally do not comment. Part of the reason is the fear of the Banhammer, not that I feel I make inappropriate comments.
I was not aware of censorship though.
I think the photo was incredible and I studied geophysics to do lunar exploration before the money dried up. I now work for the auto industry. I think I'm working on strike two.

prndl

@Roggin: I think you should go to Venus, to get a penis.

I'm going to Mars, to get more candy bars!

RacecarBoobTat

@badhatharry: No kidding. It's great to know that the system is completely arbitrary and lacks any and all thought or review process.

Mr.SithNinja

@Mr.SithNinja: Yeah, but at least it's not like Gawker where each month or so they just vote people off the island.

badhatharry

@.endejas.: Hellz yeah. It's always a good treat.

alexmg2420

this is from spaceweather.com "ASTEROID IMPACT--UPDATE: Asteroid 2008 TC3 hit Earth this morning, Oct. 7th, and exploded in the atmosphere over northern Sudan. An infrasound array in Kenya recorded the impact. Dr. Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario has inspected the data and he estimates that the asteroid hit at 0243 UTC with an energy between 1.1 and 2.1 kilotons of TNT. Most of the 3-meter-wide space rock should have been vaporized in the atmosphere with only small pieces reaching the ground as meteorites."....... There is a lot more info on this at spaceweather.com

UlvaIshaboo

NASA is not cool. Why do they hide information from the people like the Aristarchus Crater. http://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/41Group_Lunar_FYEO/02files/FYEO_Lunar_02.html This is how the moon really looks. Not black and grey like that: http://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/02files/Moon_Images.html Have fun kids...

TildenPadoozle