The European Space Agency (ESA) has released breathtaking images of Mercury’s surface taken by its BepiColombo mission. The spacecraft, which is currently in the Earth system, captured these stunning visuals during its sixth and final gravity assist manoeuvre.
On January 8, 2025, the BepiColombo spacecraft sped past Mercury, flying over the planet’s north pole and providing clear views of the sunlit northern hemisphere. One of the images taken by the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission shows large regions of Mercury’s heavily cratered surface smoothed over by lava from volcanic eruptions.
The image reveals that a 290 km-wide crater, called Mendelssohn, has been largely filled by smooth material, while smaller, more recent impact craters dot the surrounding plains. This vast plain, known as Borealis Planitia, was formed approximately 3.7 billion years ago through widespread lava eruptions.
The image also features Mercury’s largest well-preserved impact structure, the 1500 km-diameter Caloris basin, which is located in the lower left portion of the globe. The impact that created it left scars on the surface up to thousands of kilometres away. However, scientists are still unsure about the direction of lava flow into or outwards from this impact.
The BepiColombo spacecraft’s solar array and part of the Mercury Transfer Module can be seen in the foreground of the image. These images demonstrate the incredible resolution and quality of the camera on board, capturing detailed features of Mercury’s surface at a distance of around 1427 km.
Source: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/01/Mercury_s_sunlit_north_viewed_by_M-CAM_1_with_labels