The BepiColombo spacecraft has sent back some incredibly detailed images of Mercury’s north pole. The snapshots were collected during its closest ever flyby of our solar system’s smallest planet. You can check out the awe-inspiring images below.

The photos were released by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of BepiColombo, a mission in partnership with Japan to send a spacecraft to Mercury. This latest round of photos comes via the spacecraft's sixth flyby of the solar system's smallest planet, taking it less than 300km above Mercury's surface.

Stevenage-built BepiColombo makes final flyby of Mercury ahead of entering the plant's orbit in 2026.

This is the third time a spacecraft has visited Mercury in the history of space exploration. BepiColombo’s three monitoring cameras snapped detailed black-and-white photographs as it drifted just 295km above the innermost planet.