BepiColombo probe captures haunting Mercury image on 5th of 6 gravity assist flybys (photo)

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a grey crater-marked planet on an empty black background
(Image credit: JAXA/ESA)

The BepiColombo Mercury probe flew close to our solar system's innermost planet this week, capturing another haunting image as it zoomed by.

On Sunday (Dec. 1), BepiColombo made its fifth of six flybys of Mercury. On this most recent rendezvous, the probe was 200 times farther from the planet than on its previous flyby, which saw it come within just 103 miles (165 kilometers) of Mercury's surface.

Despite the greater distance in this recent flyby, the probe was once again able to generate an eerie image of diminutive Mercury, shining alone in the darkness of space. This fifth flyby is the first during which the probe used its Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS) instrument, which measures the temperature and composition of the planet's surface and reveals what types of minerals are found on the planet's surface, which the European Space Agency (ESA) says is "one of the key Mercury mysteries that BepiColombo is designed to tackle."

BepiColombo is operated by the ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The probe launched in 2018 atop an Ariane 5 rocket on an eight-year voyage that will place it in orbit around Mercury.

a small grey planet can be seen in the background against the black of space. two metallic pole-like appendages extend from the top of the image in the foreground

(Image credit: ESA/JAXA)

The original mission plan had the spacecraft arriving in December 2025, but BepiColombo experienced thruster glitches that slowed things down; the probe is now set to be inserted into Mercury's orbit in November 2026.

Once there, the spacecraft will separate into two separate orbiters: ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter. The pair will then study the small, hot world with 16 different science instruments.

a cube-shaped spacecraft with two long wing-like solar panels extending from two sides flies above a cloudy planet earth below

Artist's impression of BepiColombo above Earth. (Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab)
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The spacecraft has been flying by Earth, Venus and Mercury since 2020, use the planets' gravity to help put it on the right course to enter Mercury's orbit.

BepiColombo made its first Earth and Venus flybys in 2020, and first swung past Mercury on Oct. 1, 2021. After one flyby in 2022 and 2023 each, the probe then made close approaches to Mercury on Sept. 4, 2024 and Dec. 1, 2024.

The probe's next Mercury flyby will occur on Jan. 8, 2025.

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Brett Tingley
Brett Tingley
Managing Editor, Space.com

Brett is curious about emerging aerospace technologies, alternative launch concepts, military space developments and uncrewed aircraft systems. Brett's work has appeared on Scientific American, The War Zone, Popular Science, the History Channel, Science Discovery and more. Brett has English degrees from Clemson University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In his free time, Brett enjoys skywatching throughout the dark skies of the Appalachian mountains.