The Sky at Night S21E03 · The Mapping of Mercury

Overview

First detailed photographs of Mercury, the innermost planet, were obtained by the American space-probe Mariner 10. Maps of Mercury have been drawn from these photographs by Arthur Cross and in this programme he joins Patrick Moore to explain how the maps were made and what they have told us.

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Subtitles

Episodes

1. 1 1. Sirius, the Dog-Star1977-01-17Sirius is now at its best in the evening sky. It is one of our nearest stellar neighbours, and is much more luminous than the sun. It seems to flash all colours but is really a whi
2. 2 2. Travel in Space and Time1977-02-17How big is the universe - and does it have a boundary? Distances on the astronomer's scale are very hard to appreciate. Patrick Moore and Dr Ron Maddison discuss them in this prog
3. 3 3. The Mapping of Mercury1977-03-16First detailed photographs of Mercury, the innermost planet, were obtained by the American space-probe Mariner 10. Maps of Mercury have been drawn from these photographs by Arthur
4. 4 4. Celebrates its 20th anniversary1977-04-20In April 1957 The Sky at Night began. It could not have started at a better time; within months the Space Age opened, with the launch of Sputnik 1, and over the next few years astr
5. 5 5. The Solar Cycle1977-05-18Sunspots are known to increase and decrease over an 11-year cycle. We have just passed through a period of minimum solar activity and the sun-spots should now be increasing, but ar
6. 6 6. Uranus - the Second Ringed Planet?1977-06-15For centuries the ringed planet Saturn has been regarded as unique. This year the startling discovery has been reported that Uranus also has a system of rings - though as yet they
7. 7 7. The New Infra-red Telescope1977-07-20This month an important new British telescope has been completed. It is destined to be set up in Hawaii, and it is not an ordinary telescope; it is designed to study infra-red radi
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9. 9 9. The Voyager Missions1977-09-07The two Voyager probes to the outer planets are probably the most ambitious of all automatic space-craft launched up to the present time. They should send back important new inform
10. 10 10. Stars of the Far South1977-09-28How many people living in Britain have seen the Southern Cross? It never rises over Europe, but it is a familiar sight to those who live in the Southern Hemisphere. The stars of th
11. 11 11. The Amateur Astronomer1977-10-24Astronomy is still one of the few sciences in which the amateur can play a useful part. Paul Doherty , who specialises in planetary observations, is an amateur astronomer who has b
12. 12 12. Why Do the Planets Shine?1977-11-23All the bright planets are now visible in the early morning sky. Some of them seem to outshine the stars, and yet they have no light of their own. They shine only by reflecting the
13. 13 13. Suns, Space-ships, and Bug-eyed Monsters1977-12-14Ever since the days of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, science fiction and space exploration have been closely linked, and over the last 100 years science fiction has often become scie