The MESSENGER spacecraft snapped a series of images as it
approached Venus on June 5. The planet is enshrouded by a global
layer of clouds that obscures its surface to the MESSENGER Dual
Imaging System (MDIS) cameras. This single frame is part of a
color sequence taken to help the MESSENGER team calibrate the
camera in preparation for the spacecraft's first flyby of
Mercury on January 14, 2008. Over the next several months the
camera team will pore over the 614 images taken during this
Venus encounter to ascertain color sensitivity and other optical
properties of the instrument. These tasks address two key goals
for the camera at Mercury: understanding surface color
variations and their relation to compositional variations in the
crust, and ensuring accurate cartographic placement of features
on Mercury's surface. Preliminary analysis of the Venus flyby
images indicates that the cameras are healthy and will be ready
for next January's close encounter with Mercury. These images
are from MESSENGER, a NASA Disco