Stunning images of Mercury were captured by the BepiColombo probe during its final flyby of the planet (photos).

The BepiColombo spacecraft has completed its sixth and final flyby of Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, capturing several incredible images of this small world. These photographs provide intriguing hints about some of the mysteries that the BepiColombo probe will investigate when it enters orbit around the planet in the fall of 2026, as reported by Space.

The BepiColombo spacecraft, a joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), conducted its last flyby of Mercury on January 8.

During this flyby, the probe approached the night side of the tiny planet, which is not illuminated by the Sun, at a distance of 295 km. Approximately 7 minutes later, BepiColombo flew over Mercury's northern pole. During the close encounter, the probe captured a series of stunning images of the planet's surface.

BepiColombo has already completed 6 flybys of Mercury, paving the way for it to enter a polar orbit around the planet by late November 2026, when its main mission to explore the least studied planet in the Solar System is set to begin.

Although the primary phase of the spacecraft's mission will commence next year, all the close flybys of Mercury have provided scientists with new information about the little-explored planet. According to scientists from ESA, they have already begun working on analyzing all the data collected during the latest flyby, which will bring them closer to unraveling many of Mercury's mysteries.

Thanks to the new images, scientists were able to observe the permanently shadowed craters on Mercury's northern pole, where sunlight never reaches. Despite Mercury's proximity to the Sun, the bottoms of these craters are among the coldest places in the Solar System. These craters are of great interest to scientists, as they are believed to contain water ice. Whether it truly exists there will be determined by BepiColombo.

Although Mercury appears well-lit in the photographs, the planet closest to the Sun is surprisingly dark. Mercury's surface reflects only about 2/3 of the sunlight that the Moon reflects.

This characteristic aids scientists in studying the planet's geological history. The discovery of a lighter area on Mercury's dark surface indicates a location where lighter material has recently been brought to the surface from the interior of the planet. Scientists believe that the lighter material from Mercury's depths was brought to the surface either due to volcanic activity or impacts from asteroids. During its main mission, the BepiColombo probe will analyze the composition of the material ejected to the surface, and scientists will attempt to understand why it darkens over time.

The spacecraft also captured an image of the Caloris Basin, the largest impact crater on Mercury, which has a diameter of 1500 km.