By Dean Murray
A spacecraft making its final flyby of Mercury has captured incredible images.
BepiColombo spacecraft made its sixth pass of the closest planet to the sun on Jan. 8.
It flew just a few hundred kilometers above the planet’s surface, revealing views of both icy craters and the sunlight north pole.
The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission successfully completed the final ‘gravity assist maneuver’ needed to steer it into orbit around the planet in late 2026.
BepiColombo flew just 295 km above the surface on the planet’s cold, dark night side. Around seven minutes later, it passed directly over the Mercury’s north pole – exposing possibly icy craters whose floors are in permanent shadow – before getting clear views of the planet’s sunlit north.
This flyby also marks the last time that the mission’s M-CAMs get up-close views of Mercury, as the spacecraft module they are attached to will separate from the mission’s two orbiters – ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter – before they enter orbit around Mercury in late 2026.
ESA said: “While M-CAM’s images might not always make it appear so, Mercury is a remarkably dark planet. At first glance, the cratered planet may resemble the Moon, but its cratered surface only reflects about two-thirds as much light.
“On this dark planet, younger features on the surface tend to appear brighter. Scientists don’t yet know what exactly Mercury is made of, but it is clear that material brought up from beneath the outer surface gradually becomes darker with age.”
