"Ross A. Finlayson" <raf@tiki-lounge.com> writes:
> Also, on Mercury, as it doesn't spin as it revolves around the Sun but points
> towards it, half of Mercury is always pointed towards the Sun and the other half
> dark, like Earth's Moon. So, human industrial and settlement activities could be
> started on the borders of the dark and light halves to take advantage of the
> properties of both halves.
Actually, this is not true. This was how people believed Mercury
rotated before 1962, when radar observations showed it is a 3:2
resonance between its orbit and rotation. It rotates three times in
two Mercury years.
> It would be nice to have globes of the planets like there are globes of the
> Earth, actual physical globes that you can set on your desk. There are probably
> maps to put on the walls.
I grew up with old National Geographic Moon and Mars maps above my
bed. I have seen such globes in interviews with NASA people and
astronomers; it would be fun to have one but I guess they are not mass
produced. I know some sites where you can download at least some
surfaces for use in computer graphics (for instance,
http://www.btinternet.com/~consty/render/maps.htm).
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