MESSENGER: A snapshot of home

MESSENGER is in a unique position in the solar system, orbiting the Sun well within the orbit of Venus. From there, it can gaze outward from the Sun to search for tiny objects that may possibly be traveling in the same region, called vulcanoids. It's hard to search for vulcanoids from Earth, because looking for objects close to the Sun necessarily means pointing your telescopes close to the Sun; the tiny objects are lost in the glare and would ....