NASA's Messenger...

...spacecraft has released its first image of Mercury -- the first ever glimpse of the innermost planet's dusty craters taken by a craft in orbit just over 120 miles from the planet's surface.  Mercury has the greatest range of surface temperatures of any planet in the solar system.  This ranges from -300°F on the dark side of the planet to 800°F in the late afternoon.  A single day is represented by slightly less than 60 earth days.

I've always been fascinated with Astronomy and in fact I sometimes enjoy breaking out the family telescope.  On a clear night when company has come over and joined me on the back patio I will sometimes set up that telescope, occasionally allowing guests to see their first view of the moon through the lens, shadowed craters and debris fields visible.

There's something about a dead planet or our own moon that makes the creation of this earth come alive for me.  Earth is a living planet for many reasons.  Water, atmosphere, the perfect rotation balanced by the perfect moon the exact distance from a perfectly energized sun.  While there are many coincidences in this world- our world is not one.

As Messenger and other satellites like it continue on their journeys, taking amazing pictures of lifeless planets, let's celebrate our own vibrant and living planet- always thankful of the perfect one who created her.