A pair of Mercury probes got up close and personal with the solar system’s underdog planet, revealing its cratered surface in a newly released video of the otherworldly encounter.
The European Space Agency (ESA) released a 90-second video of BepiColombo’s recent flyby of Mercury, which marked the closest approach to the innermost planet. The footage is made up of 128 images, stitched together to produce a cinematic timelapse of the spacecraft’s recent rendezvous.
BepiColombo carried out its fourth gravity assist of Mercury on September 4, approaching the planet’s cratered surface at the closest distance of 102 miles (165 kilometers) at 5:48 p.m. ET. During its quick visit, the spacecraft used its three onboard monitoring cameras to capture detailed views of the planet, revealing its mysterious craters. BepiColombo also had its first clear view of Mercury’s south pole.
The first few images shown in the video were taken in the days and weeks before the flyby, as the spacecraft journeyed through the inner solar system on its way to find Mercury. BepiColombo approached Mercury from the planet’s nightside, with the Sun illuminating its cratered surface as the spacecraft drew nearer. The planet first appears about 10 seconds into the video, its cratered surface emerging from the darkness.
Around four minutes after the spacecraft’s closest approach to Mercury, the planet’s mysterious craters came into view. One of the craters, which measures around 96 miles across (155 kilometers), got its name in honor of the anticipated flyby. The crater was given the name Stoddart by the International Astronomical Union after Margaret Olrog Stoddart, an artist from New Zealand known for her flower paintings.
The sequence of Mercury photos shown in the video ends about 24 hours later on September 5, with the planet appearing in the distance as the spacecraft bids farewell.
BepiColombo launched in October 2018 as a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Each space agency provided an orbiter to explore Mercury’s surface, interior, and magnetic field. ESA’s Mercury Planet Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetosphere Orbiter (MMO) launched together on a single spacecraft, and each are designed to enter its respective orbit around Mercury.
BepiColombo is only the third spacecraft to visit Mercury, the least explored rocky planet of the solar system, according to ESA. Mercury is especially tricky to reach due to the Sun’s powerful gravitational pull, which accelerates the spacecraft towards it.
In order to reach Mercury, the spacecraft has to perform nine gravity assist maneuvers in total: one around Earth, two around Venus, and six around Mercury. The mission carried out its first flyby of Mercury in October 2021 and returned gorgeous close-up images of the solar system’s smallest planet. BepiColombo is scheduled to enter Mercury’s orbit in November 2026.
More: Planet Mercury Has Solid Inner Core About the Same Size as Earth’s
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