Mercury

Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Solar System, Earth & Space Science

Ed Hessler

The BepiColombo spacecraft will orbit the planet Mercury in 2025. It is already beginning to prepare for this event.

In opening the brief, typically informative and well-referenced Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) asks, "Which part of the moon is this? No part -- because this is the planet Mercury." It would be easy to assume that one is looking at our Moon.

The striking, stark, well-defined image was taken as BepiColombo passes Mercury. 

I learned a lot and am glad for this APOD selection.