Japan’s BepiColombo probe has taken the first ever images of Mercury’s south pole. 

On the night from Wednesday to Thursday, September 4-5, 2024, the BepiColombo probe made its 4th flyby near Mercury. The satellite approached the planet’s surface at a record low distance of 165 kilometers.

The cameras recorded images of Mercury’s crater-covered surface. The most important of these are the first-ever images of Mercury’s hitherto elusive south pole. 

The first image of the south pole of the solar system’s innermost planet released by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan’s JAXA Space Exploration Agency was taken by one of the probe’s surveillance cameras. 

The planet’s south pole is visible in the image at the upper right of Mercury’s disk. The historic photograph was taken about 23 minutes after the satellite’s closest approach to the planet, when the BepiColombo probe was about 3,500 kilometers from Mercury’s surface. 

Launched in October 2018, the BepiColombo probe consists of 2 spacecraft: Mercury Planetary Orbiter of the European Space Agency and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The craft are traveling together, but will separate after their final entry into Mercury’s orbit in 2026. They will study and analyze our system’s innermost planet with the help of 16 scientific instruments.