Reaching Mercury is such a challenge because “the gravitational pull of the Sun is very strong near Mercury, which makes it difficult for spacecraft to slow down enough to enter orbit around the planet,” explains Lina Hadid, staff scientist at CNRS in France and principal investigator of one of BepiColombo’s instruments.

BepiColombo passed a mere 295 kilometers above Mercury's surface at 6:59 CET on Jan. 9. The flyby began on the planet's frigid night side. Seven minutes later, the probe emerged from the shadows over the North Pole. This area was bathed in light, allowing it to capture a stunning visage with its monitoring cameras (M-CAMs).

The BepiColombo mission recently made its sixth flyby of Mercury, snapping some images along the way.The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inbox

ESA's BepiColombo spacecraft is currently undertaking a series of gravity-assisted maneuvers around Mercury, capturing increasingly close-up images of this enigmatic planet. With each flyby, the probe edges closer to its final orbit in 2026,