{"id":25694,"date":"2024-09-05T16:43:15","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T15:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=25694"},"modified":"2024-09-05T16:43:15","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T15:43:15","slug":"bepicolombos-most-astounding-images-yet-highlight-fourth-mercury-flyby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/science-mct\/bepicolombos-most-astounding-images-yet-highlight-fourth-mercury-flyby\/","title":{"rendered":"BepiColombo’s most astounding images yet highlight fourth Mercury flyby"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ESA\/JAXA BepiColombo mission has successfully completed<\/a> its fourth of six gravity assist flybys at Mercury overnight on 4\/5 September, capturing images that include two special impact craters as it uses the planet\u2019s gravity to steer itself on course to enter orbit around Mercury in November 2026.<\/p>\n

The closest approach took place at 22:48 BST (23:48 CEST) on 4 September 2024, with BepiColombo passing within around 165 km above the planet\u2019s surface. For the first time, the spacecraft had a clear view\u00a0of\u00a0Mercury\u2019s south pole.<\/p>\n

Images from BepiColombo\u2019s three\u00a0monitoring cameras<\/a>\u00a0 arrived back on Earth during the morning of 5 Sept, providing a unique view of Mercury\u2019s surface from three different angles. BepiColombo approached Mercury from the \u2018nightside\u2019 of the planet, with Mercury\u2019s cratered surface becoming increasingly lit up by the Sun as the spacecraft flew by.<\/p>\n

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BepiColombo says goodbye to Mercury for the fourth time. Credit: ESA \/ BepiColombo \/ MTM<\/p><\/div>\n

Experts from The Open University (OU) are working as part of the BepiColombo M-CAM imaging team, including David Rothery<\/a>, Professor of Planetary Geosciences at the OU and a member of the BepiColombo M-CAM imaging team, who commented:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was worth getting up before 4am for this. The detail of small landscape feature in the images is better than I hoped for. It is making me impatient for the real science when we get into orbit two years from now.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mercury lays bare its\u00a0Four Seasons<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Four minutes after closest approach, a large \u2018peak ring basin\u2019 came into BepiColombo\u2019s view. These mysterious craters \u2013 created by powerful asteroid or comet impacts and measuring about 130\u2013330 km across \u2013 are called peak rings basins after the inner ring\u00a0of peaks on an otherwise flattish floor.<\/p>\n

This large crater is Vivaldi, after the famous Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678\u20131741). It measures 210 km across, and because BepiColombo saw it so close to the sunrise line, its landscape is beautifully emphasised by shadow. There is a visible gap in the ring of peaks, where more recent lava flows have entered and flooded the crater.<\/p>\n

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Mercury reveals its Four Seasons. Credit: Credit: ESA \/ BepiColombo \/ MTM<\/p><\/div>\n

First sight of crater newly named after New Zealand artist<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Just a couple of minutes later, another special peak ring basin came into view. This one measures 155 km across.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were planning for this flyby, we saw that this crater would be visible and decided it would be worth naming due to its potential interest for BepiColombo scientists in the future,\u201d explains David.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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BepiColombo captures newly named Stoddart crater. Credit: ESA \/ BepiColombo \/ MTM<\/p><\/div>\n

Following a request from the M-CAM team, the ancient crater was recently\u00a0assigned the name Stoddart<\/a>\u00a0by the International Astronomical Union\u2019s Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature after Margaret Olrog Stoddart (1865\u20131934), an artist from New Zealand known for her flower paintings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMercury\u2019s peak ring basins are fascinating because many aspects of how they formed are currently still a mystery. The rings of peaks are presumed to have resulted from some kind of rebound process during the impact, but the depths from which they were uplifted are still unclear,\u201d<\/em> continues David, \u201cMercury is<\/em> \u2018Lord of the Peak Rings\u2019\u201d.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many of Mercury\u2019s peak ring basins have been flooded by volcanic lava flows long after the original impact. This has happened inside both Vivaldi and Stoddart. Inside Stoddart, the trace of a 16-km-wide crater that must have formed on the original floor is clearly visible\u00a0through a covering of more recent lava flows.<\/p>\n

Peak ring basins are among the high-priority targets for study by BepiColombo once it gets into orbit around Mercury and is able to deploy its full suite of scientific instruments.<\/p>\n

A taste of Mercury science<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The snapshots seen during this flyby are among BepiColombo\u2019s best so far \u2013 taken from the closest distance yet, with Mercury\u2019s surface well-lit by the Sun. They reveal a surface with clear signs of 4.6 billion years of bombardment by asteroids and comets, hinting at the planet\u2019s place in the wider Solar System evolution.<\/p>\n

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BepiColombo\u2019s closest approach to Mercury. Credit: ESA \/ BepiColombo \/ MTM<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s worth remembering that these images are a bonus: the M-CAMs were not designed to photograph Mercury but the spacecraft itself, especially during the challenging period just after launch. They provide black-and-white 1024×1024 pixel snapshots. BepiColombo\u2019s\u00a0main science camera is shielded during the journey to Mercury, but it is expected to take much higher-resolution images after arrival in orbit.<\/p>\n

In 2027, the main science phase of the mission will begin. The spacecraft\u2019s suite of science instruments will\u00a0reveal the invisible<\/a>\u00a0about the Solar System\u2019s most mysterious planet, to better understand the origin and evolution of a planet close to its host star.<\/p>\n

But the work has already begun, with most of the instruments switched on during this flyby, measuring the magnetic, plasma and particle environment around the spacecraft, from locations that will not be accessible when BepiColombo is actually in orbit around Mercury.<\/p>\n

BepiColombo comprises two science orbiters that will circle Mercury \u2013 ESA\u2019s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency\u2019s (JAXA) Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter. The two are carried together to the mysterious planet by the Mercury Transfer Module. Even though the three parts\u00a0are currently in \u2018stacked\u2019 cruise configuration, meaning many instruments cannot be fully operated, they can still get glimpses of science\u00a0and enable instrument teams to check that their instruments are working well ahead of the main mission.<\/p>\n

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BepiColombo\u2019s fourth Mercury flyby. Credit: ESA \/ BepiColombo \/ MTM<\/p><\/div>\n

“BepiColombo is only the third space mission to visit Mercury, making it the least-explored planet in the inner Solar System, partly because it is so difficult to get to,” <\/em>says Jack Wright, Visiting Research Fellow at the OU and ESA, Planetary Scientist, and M-CAM imaging team coordinator.<\/p>\n

“It is a world of extremes and contradictions, so I dubbed it the \u2018Problem Child of the Solar System\u2019 in the past. The images and science data collected during the flybys offer a tantalising prelude to BepiColombo’s orbital phase, where it will help to solve Mercury’s\u00a0<\/em>outstanding mysteries<\/em><\/a>.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OU research student, Annie Lennox, is in the final stages of mapping the south polar region of Mercury, much of which appears in the global image from this flyby. Annie commented:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe images released so far are BepiColombo\u2019 s first ever of Mercury\u2019s south polar region, an area close to my heart. For the last three years I have been creating geological maps of Mercury\u2019s south polar quadrangle, an area known as the Bach quadrangle or H15. As can be seen in these pictures, the area is covered in tectonic scarps and impact craters; some of which are host to features I\u2019ve been researching called lobate ejecta, and others in permanent shadow containing water ice. It\u2019s a fascinating area and getting a taste of the higher resolution images that are to come is most exciting.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This fourth Mercury flyby has lined BepiColombo up for a fifth and sixth flyby of the planet on 1 December 2024 and 8 January 2025. Each is bringing the spacecraft more in tune with the orbit of Mercury around the Sun.<\/p>\n

The BepiColombo flight control team will remain extra busy until the end of the sixth flyby, after which they return to normal cruise operations for almost two years, until BepiColombo enters orbit around Mercury in November 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ESA\/JAXA BepiColombo mission has successfully completed its fourth of six gravity assist flybys at Mercury overnight on 4\/5 September, capturing images that include two special impact craters as it uses the planet\u2019s gravity to steer itself on course to enter orbit around Mercury in November 2026. The closest approach took place at 22:48 BST […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":25703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[861,1525,1640],"class_list":["post-25694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-mct","tag-faculty-of-stem","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}