Bepi

ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter, travelling with JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (@JAXA_MMO) & @ESA_MTM as part of the #BepiColombo mission

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

Flying past Mercury was a moving experience 😉

[BepiColombo @BepiColombo]

🤔In space, no one can hear you... make an orbit-bending flyby of Mercury. So BepiColombo recorded its vibrations and turned them into sounds

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

😮 The views I get when passing by are just jaw-dropping!

Can't wait to be back at Mercury, this time to stay!

[BepiColombo @BepiColombo]

📽️Sit down, relax and enjoy #BepiColombo’s views as it moved gracefully around Mercury on 7-8 January 2025.
🎼🎶Playing in the background is The Hebrides overture by Felix Mendelssohn - can you guess why?

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

@LiamDonza @ukspacebulletin We do have both monitoring cameras that were active during this flyby (see the images here https://t.co/r4Y4mKxgnh) as well as science cameras that will investigate Mercury once we're back and enter orbit.

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

I'm getting ready for my last flyby of Mercury! One more trip and I'll be home for good 🥹

[BepiColombo @BepiColombo]

🛰️🌑We're gearing up for BepiColombo's sixth Mercury flyby, coming up this Wednesday!
ℹ️Closest approach is 295 km at 06:59 CET
We'll investigate Mercury's cold night side, north pole craters, and the vast northern plains
👇https://t.co/ec7qs13G4E

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

This was indeed the last time the monitoring cameras got up-close views of Mercury as the spacecraft module they are attached to will separate from the mission's two orbiters before they enter orbit around Mercury in late 2026. I am confident everything will go according to plan :)

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

Thank you, ground support team 🫡

Now let's get ready for the last trip before final arrival at destination.

Until then, here are my latest Mercury postcards, everyone! 👇

[BepiColombo @BepiColombo]

Our top three images from the sixth Mercury flyby are here! 🌗

See what they reveal about the mysterious planet here 👉 https://t.co/9cLKYf5STe and in 🧵👇

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

I have greeted Mercury in passing one last time before we meet again in 2026. 🤗

[BepiColombo @BepiColombo]

On 8 January, at 06:59 CET, Bepi, Mio and MTM got as close as 295 km to Mercury’s surface. This sixth flyby is the last time the #BepiColombo trio greet the planet together 👉 https://t.co/jheNFY2pQE

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

Ground support, you have mail!

[BepiColombo @BepiColombo]

Images and other scientific data from this morning's close approach to Mercury by #bepicolombo are safely on the ground! We'll be sharing images from the closest approach tomorrow.

[BepiColombo @BepiColombo]

Here's an image taken 5.5 hours before closest approach, when #bepicolombo was 44950 km from Mercury's southern hemisphere. The planet is at the bottom of the picture, below two of the spacecraft's booms.

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

Hello, Mercury! 👋

Here we go again, one last swingby before I'm here to stay.

[BepiColombo @BepiColombo]

BepiColombo is reaching its closest approach to Mercury now during its sixth encounter with the planet. It's 06:58:52 CET, and the spacecraft is 295km from the surface. #bepicolombo

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

@GrumpyG53751044 The Mercury Transfer Module, which is carrying the two BepiColombo orbiters to Mercury, will not enter orbit around the planet. It will continue in orbit around the Sun.

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

I saw Mercury in infrared light for the first time last week - the planet's sunlit side looks simply... radiant🥹

[ESA Science @esascience]

Last week, @BepiColombo became the first spacecraft to image planet Mercury in mid-infrared light 🔥
Using @MERTISonBepi, the mission will uncover what Mercury's surface is made of 👇
https://t.co/XdbDSaZzXV

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

Mercury flyby 5 was a success, can't wait to show you everything we saw!

[ESA Science @esascience]

Yesterday @BepiColombo greeted Mercury from just 37628 km away, using @MERTISonBepi to take the first ever space-based pictures of the planet in mid-infrared wavelengths. We'll reveal what Bepi saw in the coming week! 👇
https://t.co/2xiKtxcvkW

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

😌Here's a sneak preview of my views of Mercury, taken as I flew towards the planet yesterday
This was the fifth time I flew close to Mercury - only one more flyby to go before I stay near the planet for good!

[BepiColombo @BepiColombo]

Mercury in motion... One of the #BepiColombo selfie-cameras captured Mercury today as the spacecraft rushed by the planet at almost 3 km per second. 🛰️💨
This time-lapse of unprocessed images was captured during 10:26-11:18 UTC today (11:26-12:18 CET), between 53700 and 48000 km from the planet's surface. 📸

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

Mercury, we meet again! 🤗

[ESA Science @esascience]

This Sunday, @BepiColombo will fly past Mercury for the fifth time. Here's an overview of what you can expect 👇
https://t.co/Q5c5mdFpkB

[European Space History @ESA_History]

#OTD 20 October 2018, launch of #ESA/@JAXA_en @BepiColombo on #Ariane5 #VA245 from @EuropeSpacePort in Kourou on its 7 year journey to #Mercury
@esascience @ESA_Bepi @CNES @Arianespace
🔗https://t.co/Hqvl5cnaGQ

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

WOW, it only took 30 minutes for Mio to collect enough data during our third #MercuryFlyby to map out the dynamic features of Mercury’s magnetic environment.

Great job @JAXA_MMO! 👏🤩
Can’t wait for our dual observations once in orbit!

Full story 👉https://t.co/w8qtR8KnTQ

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

@tanisluis Thank you! 🤩

[Bepi @ESA_Bepi]

My office view 🌑😍

[BepiColombo @BepiColombo]

🌑 Fly over Mercury with #BepiColombo 👇 and discover the newly named Stoddart crater, after artist Margaret Olrog Stoddart, and the larger Raphael crater.
https://t.co/bT3qYkJH1e
#EPSC2024

[BepiColombo @BepiColombo]

Sit back, relax, and enjoy this beautiful timelapse of last week's Mercury flyby, set to some special music inspired by a crater that appears in some images 😉