Breathtaking Imagery Reveals Mercury’s Volcanic Landscape Captured During Spacecraft Encounter

A spacecraft navigated close to Mercury this week, transmitting breathtaking new visuals of the planet’s surface and highlighting once more humanity’s seemingly boundless desire to comprehend the cosmos.

3 key points to understand:

1. The BepiColombo spacecraft approached within 200 miles of Mercury’s surface and captured images of volcanic landscapes and frozen craters.
2. This marks the sixth occasion the spacecraft — which was launched in 2018 by the European Space Agency [ESA] — has completed a fly-by.
3. The ESA stated in a release that this was the final “gravity assist maneuver” necessary for the two orbiters to detach, enter into orbit around the planet in late 2026, and gather even more data.

European Space Agency via AP

Tune into NPR’s Short Wave podcast for additional revelations, daily enigmas and the scientific insights behind the news.

Is Mercury significant to us Earth dwellers?

Absolutely! There remains an abundance of information we are yet to uncover about the smallest, somewhat enigmatic member closest to the sun in our solar system.

What we are aware of is that Mercury possesses a unique structure. Similar to Earth, it has a metallic core. However, Mercury’s metallic core occupies 80% of the planet’s volume.

As NPR’s Joe Palca observes, one of the most captivating facts about Mercury is that, despite the scorching temperatures on the sunlit regions of the planet — soaring to 800 degrees Fahrenheit — there exist areas within craters near the poles that remain perpetually shrouded in darkness.

It seems like I’m encountering a lot of news about space lately

Indeed, there’s a plethora of fascinating developments taking place.

Recently, reports emerged about a duo of satellites creating artificial solar eclipses to analyze the sun; researchers gearing up to receive data from spacecraft after a historic close passage by the sun; and a daring endeavor to collect rocks from Mars’ surface.

This Sunday, an enormous new rocket designed by Blue Origin — the private aerospace company created by billionaire Jeff Bezos — is anticipated to launch (though it has encountered delays in the past, so don’t get your hopes up).

Throughout the remainder of 2025, there will be supermoons, meteor showers, and various thrilling celestial occurrences to observe, all of which will be conveniently compiled in one location for stargazers everywhere.

Dive deeper with NPR into space and science:

• You can keep track of all of NPR’s space reporting, including an exploration of space debris and why the International Space Station had to navigate around debris.
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