The ESA/JAXA's BepiColombo spacecraft flew by Mercury yesterday for the sixth time, just 183 miles above the planet's north pole. The images it returned to us capture the breathtaking awe and cinematic drama reminiscent of a scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The fly-by was the "the final 'gravity assist manoeuvre' needed to steer it into orbit around the planet in late 2026," explains the European Space Agency:
Flying over the 'terminator' – the boundary between day and night – the spacecraft got a unique opportunity to peer directly down into the forever-shadowed craters at planet's north pole.
The rims of craters Prokofiev, Kandinsky, Tolkien and Gordimer cast permanent shadows on their floors. This makes these unlit craters some of the coldest places in the Solar System, despite Mercury being the closest planet 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.
Previously:
• Mercury may have 11-mile deep layer of diamonds
• Choose your vacation: Pleasure Planet, Paradise Planet, or Hell Planet
