European Space Agency has announced yesterday, Saturday, that the European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft has sent its first images of Mercury, the nearest planet to the Sun.

In a statement, ESA mentioned that the cameras attached to the BepiColombo spacecraft provided black-and-white images. These images were obtained almost three years after the spacecraft was launched.

ESA explained that the spacecraft arrived on the night side of the planet and conditions were "not ideal" for taking images at its closest approach to the planet, which is at an altitude of 199 kilometers. The closest image came from about 1,000 km away from the planet.

SWING-BY! @BepiColombo/@JAXA_MMO is now at its closest to Mercury, at an altitude of just under 200km! Mercury’s gravity will alter BepiColombo’s trajectory, ready for the next swing-by in June 2022 & arrival at Mercury in 2025! Watch our twitters for the photographs 📷 pic.twitter.com/Q40gWL32dC

— JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (@ISAS_JAXA_EN) October 1, 2021

The pictured region of Mercury demonstrated large craters and an area flooded by lava billions of years ago.

Elsa Montagnon, Spacecraft Operations Manager for the mission, said that it's "incredible" to finally see the planet.

The space agency mentioned that the BepiColombo mission will study all aspects of Mercury to better understand its origin and evolution.

Hello, Mercury!

This splendid view of part of Mercury's northern hemisphere was captured by @ESA_MTM about 10 mins after #MercuryFlyby close approach, from a distance of 2420km. https://t.co/jjGKrsQXDH#ExploreFarther pic.twitter.com/EMhMJ5tKiN

— Bepi (@ESA_Bepi) October 2, 2021

Mercury's most extreme temperatures range from about 430 degrees Celsius (more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit) to super-frosty nights of minus 180C (minus 290F).

The BepiColombo spacecraft is due to make five more flybys of Mercury.