π½οΈSit down, relax and enjoy #BepiColomboβs views as it moved gracefully around Mercury on 7-8 January 2025.
πΌπΆPlaying in the background is The Hebrides overture by Felix Mendelssohn - can you guess why?
Our top three images from the sixth Mercury flyby are here! π
See what they reveal about the mysterious planet here π esa.int/Science_Explorβ¦ and in π§΅π
On 8 January, at 06:59 CET, Bepi, Mio and MTM got as close as 295 km to Mercuryβs surface. This sixth flyby is the last time the #BepiColombo trio greet the planet together π esa.int/ESA_Multimediaβ¦
Images and other scientific data from this morning's close approach to Mercury by #bepicolombo are safely on the ground! We'll be sharing images from the closest approach tomorrow.
BepiColombo is reaching its closest approach to Mercury now during its sixth encounter with the planet. It's 06:58:52 CET, and the spacecraft is 295km from the surface. #bepicolombo
Here's an image taken 5.5 hours before closest approach, when #bepicolombo was 44950 km from Mercury's southern hemisphere. The planet is at the bottom of the picture, below two of the spacecraft's booms.
π°οΈπWe're gearing up for BepiColombo's sixth Mercury flyby, coming up this Wednesday!
βΉοΈClosest approach is 295 km at 06:59 CET
We'll investigate Mercury's cold night side, north pole craters, and the vast northern plains
πesa.int/Science_Explorβ¦
Last week, @BepiColombo became the first spacecraft to image planet Mercury in mid-infrared light π₯
Using @MERTISonBepi, the mission will uncover what Mercury's surface is made of π
esa.int/Science_Explorβ¦
Yesterday @BepiColombo greeted Mercury from just 37628 km away, using @MERTISonBepi to take the first ever space-based pictures of the planet in mid-infrared wavelengths. We'll reveal what Bepi saw in the coming week! π
esa.int/ESA_Multimediaβ¦
Mercury in motion... One of the #BepiColombo selfie-cameras captured Mercury today as the spacecraft rushed by the planet at almost 3 km per second. π°οΈπ¨
This time-lapse of unprocessed images was captured during 10:26-11:18 UTC today (11:26-12:18 CET), between 53700 and 48000 km