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Check Out These Extraordinary New Images of Mercury
New photos of Mercury taken during the joint European and Japanese BepiColombo mission reveal fascinating details of the small rocky planet.
This was a “gravity assist maneuver,” a move that used Mercury’s gravitational pull to alter the BepiColombo vehicle’s course, which will bring it into orbit around the planet by the end of 2026. The photo, ESA explains, shows that large regions of the planet’s crater-filled surface have been made smooth by lava, which originated from major volcanic eruptions in Mercury’s past. The crater rim is still clearly visible (and as been marked with an orange-colored circle superimposed on the image) but has been largely filled in by smooth volcanic material that also makes up the surrounding plains.
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