A spacecraft has sent back detailed images of Mercury. The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission made its third of six fly-bys of the closest planet to the sun on Monday.
It managed to snap images of a newly named impact crater as well as tectonic and volcanic curiosities as it adjusts its trajectory for entering Mercury orbit in 2025. The images were captured by the onboard monitoring cameras, which provide black-and-white snapshots in 1024x1024 pixel resolution.
Many geological features are visible, including the newly named Manley impact crater. The closest approach took place on Monday evening about 236 km above the surface, on the night side of the planet.
