The European Space Agency released stunning snapshots showing the permanently shadowed craters at the top of our solar system's smallest, innermost planet.

A spacecraft has beamed back some of the best close-up photos ever of Mercury’s north pole. The European and Japanese robotic explorer swooped as close as 183 miles (295 kilometers) above Mercury before passing directly over the planet's north pole.

Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft captured close-up images of Mercury’s north pole during its final flyby, offering new views of the planet’s surface.

The BepiColombo spacecraft flew less than 200 miles from Mercury's surface and photographed volcanic plains and icy craters.

The BepiColombo satellite, in orbit around Mercury, photographed the rocky world's north pole for the first time up close. I hope you like craters and stark shadows. This is one of a series of images taken by the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission on 8 January 2025 as the spacecraft sped by for its sixth and final gravity assist manoeuvre at the planet.