NASA's Messenger (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft is supposed to have done a flyby of Mercury today getting as close as 124 miles. This seems to me like a significant and very exciting event but I've not heard much hype about it at all and I note that the news bot in the Astronomy News forum here didn't list it either.
This is supposed to be the first of 3 Mercury flybys since the mission start in 2004. One of the big mysteries to be investigated is the possibility of ice in the craters near the poles. Imagine that - ice on Mercury! But what I'm looking forward to are the pics - they just Have to be fantastic at that distance!
... though NASA says they don't expect to release the first pics for about a week.
I was also impressed with how they are handling the extreme heat/radiation issues being so close to the Sun and the reflected heat/radiation from the surface of Mercury with Messenger so close to its surface.
Am I the only one who is eagerly awaiting mission results from Messenger?