This is an image of Mercury taken by the Japan-Europe joint Mercury explorer BepiColombo when it performed a flyby (swingby) on Mercury on October 2, 2021 (Japan time, the same applies hereinafter). The image shows the vicinity of the equator of Mercury and a part of the Northern Hemisphere (lower left side of Mercury in this image).
BepiColombo reapproached Mercury at 8:34 am on the 2nd. Upon reapproach, the spacecraft approached 198 km from the surface of Mercury. The image was taken about 10 minutes later at 8:44:12 am, when the spacecraft was located about 2418 km from Mercury.
BepiColombo is heading for Mercury in the form of a combination of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) “Mio (MMO)”, ESA (European Space Agency) Mercury surface probe (MPO), and electric propulsion module (MTM). increase. The image was taken with the monitoring camera installed in MTM.
Of the craters shown in the image, the ones that are relatively clearly visible and named are shown with the crater name. Polygnotus is on the equator, and craters such as Poetius, Carouso, Thakur, Calvino and Rudaki are located in the low latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere.
Around the 67 km diameter Calvino Crater, there is a circular area that is smoother and brighter than the surrounding area. The Lermontov crater, which is 166 km in diameter, looks bright due to the unique terrain of Mercury called “Hollows”, where volatile elements are thought to be released into outer space.
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