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COPYRIGHT 2001 Natural History Magazine, Inc.
The MESSENGER launch in 2004 promises to lead us out of the dark.
The dark side of the Moon? Been there, done that. Another dark side in our solar system, however, is beckoning to some astronomers today, much as the Moon's did to an earlier generation. In this case the dark side is Mercury's, and as always in such discussions, its very existence depends on the definition of "dark."
The dark side of the Moon, for one, isn't--dark that is, at least in any day-and-night sense of the word. Every crater on the Moon's surface gets some sun. In fact, during Earth's new Moon phase, it's the Moon's "dark" side that is fully in...
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