The Messenger spacecraft made a close flyby of the planet Mercury on Monday in the first encounter with the planet in nearly 33 years. The flyby is the first maneuver in a series of steps that astronomers hope will leave the NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mercury in 2011.
James Head, professor of geological sciences at Brown University, talks about the close-up images of areas of the Sun's nearest neighbor that were in shadow when Mariner 10 flew past Mercury more than three decades ago.
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