That’s no Moon…⁣ ⁣ Because it’s Mercury! No one would blame you for mistaking one for the other, though. The two bodies do have some visual similarities: Mercury is only slightly larger than our Moon, and they’re both gray and cratered. NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft captured this visible and infrared light view of the planet on Jan. 14, 2008, about 80 minutes before it made its closest pass at a distance of about 17,000 miles (27,000 kilometers). MESSENGER would go on to conduct two more flybys of Mercury on Oct. 6, 2008, and Sept. 29, 2009.⁣ ⁣ MESSENGER – which stands for Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging – was the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. Its primary goal was to study the geology, magnetic field, and chemical composition of the planet. It was the first mission to Mercury after Mariner 10, more than 30 years before.⁣ ⁣ One of the first things MESSENGER discovered was high concentrations of magnesium and calcium on Mercury’s night side. It also found ...