7:34:49 
2023-06-25 
809
A probe takes close-up views of the smallest planets in the solar system
The Mercury probe BepiColombo has completed its third close flyby of the target planet, revealing a surface riddled with craters.
The joint European/Japanese mission launched in 2018 is approaching the final leg of its seven-year journey through the inner solar system. During this journey, BepiColombo relies on the gravity of Earth, Venus and Mercury to slow itself down enough to move from the sun's orbit to Mercury's orbit in late 2025.
The latest gravity-assisted maneuvers took place on Monday as the BepiColombo probe flew within 236 km (150 miles) of Mercury's surface.
Scientists in charge of the mission took advantage of the opportunity to measure the environment of the smallest planet in the solar system and the closest to the sun, and to take pictures of its burned surface.
The European Space Agency (ESA) released the first of these new images on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the probe's close flyby that occurred on Monday at 3:34 p.m. EDT (19:34 GMT).
The images reveal what the European Space Agency described as a "geological bounty" of craters, ancient volcanic mounds and lava flows.
One of the most intriguing features in the images is the crater, which has just received a new name, Edna Manley, after a Jamaican-British artist who died in 1987.
David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences at the UK's Open University and a member of BepiColombo Science Imaging, said in the ESA statement: "While planning the flyby images, we realized that this large crater would be visible, but it had not yet been named. It would obviously be the location of the flyby." "BepiColombo scientists are of interest in the future, because they are revealing traces of dark, low-reflectivity material, which may be remnants of Mercury's early, carbon-rich crust. In addition, smooth lava flooded the floor of the basin within, indicative of Mercury's prolonged history of volcanic activity."
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