New images of Mercury released

The BepiColombo spacecraft took a picture of Mercury. He flew to the planet at a distance of 236 km, but the images were taken from a distance of 3500 km, writes Space.

The images were taken during the third close flyby of the smallest planet in the solar system on the night of June 19th.

Thus, the device was able to study the surrounding space environment of Mercury and take stunning pictures of the planet’s desert surface covered with craters.

“The device approached Mercury at a very close distance of 236 km from the night side of the planet, and therefore from this distance it could not produce high quality, although black and white images. Approx. 20 minutes after the closest approach to Mercury, BepiColombo flew at a distance of 350 km from the planet, and from here the cameras of the apparatus took new pictures,” the scientists said.

The image shows many geological features of the planet. Among them are many ancient craters filled with volcanic lava, formed during the first billion years of the planet’s history, when Mercury was volcanically active.

In addition, the famous arched hill called Beagle Rupes entered the frame.

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The research probe also photographed a previously unnamed crater. It was later named after Jamaican-British artist Edna Manley, who died in 1987.

Remember that Mercury first passed the solar disk.