Spacecraft Captures Amazing Close-Up Photos of Mercury

A spacecraft beamed back close-up photos of Mercury as it flew less than 200 miles above the planet's pockmarked surface.

The European Space Agency on Thursday released the stunning photos taken as the BepiColombo, the European and Japanese robotic explorer, flew about 183 miles above Mercury's dark night side on Wednesday and then passed over its north pole, showing icy craters whose floors remain in perpetual shadow.

It was the sixth time the spacecraft flew past Mercury, the smallest of the planets in the Earth's solar system, as it completed the maneuver that will steer it into orbit around the planet in late 2026, the space agency said.

BepoColombo's cameras captured incredible photos of Mercury's surface, including the craters of Prokofiev, Kandinsky, Tolkien and Gordimer, on its north pole.

The European Space Agency said the bottom of the craters, forever in shadow, are some of the coldest places in the solar system despite being on the planet closest to the Sun.

"Excitingly, there is existing evidence that these dark craters contain frozen water. Whether there is really water on Mercury is one of the key Mercury mysteries that BepiColombo will investigate once it is in orbit around the planet," the agency said on its website.

BepiColombo, a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, was launched on Oct. 20, 2018.