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On 9 December, two little explorers, Bepi and Mio, will part ways as they approach their final destination after an eight years-long journey 🥹 Join us in sending them a #WelcomeToMercury message to cheer them up at this bitter sweet moment. Enter our competition here 👉 esa.int/WelcomeToMercury 🔭 🧪

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Ten years ago one daring spacecraft made a final descent 🥹 On 30 September 2016, the Rosetta mission concluded with a controlled impact onto Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, taking one last image. 🔭 🧪

Rosetta's last image of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko: a blurry close-up of a grey surface scattered with boulders and pebbles.

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The commissioning ended on 23 September, when the European-Chinese Smile mission was declared ready to start revealing how Earth responds to the wind of charged particles from the Sun. Read more about the instruments' status & the challenges the team faced here 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭 🧪 ☀️

Infographic presenting the four science instruments carried on the Smile spacecraft. At the centre of the infographic is an outline of the spacecraft with the instruments highlighted in blue. From each instrument a blue arrow points to a pop-out box, with an image depicting what the instrument will do. Below each pop-out image is a small text explaining whether the instrument is led by ESA or CAS, with a sentence explaining what the instrument will do.

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Smile's X-ray camera was also successfully switched on and has taken its first images. Though the camera itself is working very well, the teams are currently working on reducing some unwanted light that was detected, even if its amount will naturally reduce over the coming weeks.

Smile's first test X-ray image shows a supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The image looks like a static noise picture in red hues. Several brighter, whiter spots are visible, with one of them circled and labeled as supernova remnant N132D.

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The observations were taken during the busy in-space commissioning period. During this time, European and Chinese teams got Smile ready by deploying mechanisms, switching on units, checking communications, and fixing any issues that came up. 🔭 🧪 ☀️

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 29/09/2026

Inspector Smile is ready for science! 🫡 This is Smile’s first ultraviolet view showing an auroral substorm. With the ultraviolet camera now operational, Smile becomes the first spacecraft since 2008 to capture the full ring of northern lights around the north pole in ultraviolet light. 🔭 🧪 ☀️

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A galactic house of mirrors 🌌🪞 Webb has captured this spectacular view of the galaxy cluster MACS J0454.1-0300. Its gravity is warping & multiplying the images of background galaxies, which appear like they have stepped into a house of mirrors! Read more 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed... 🔭 🧪

A massive galaxy cluster, made of many golden elliptical galaxies with the largest, brightest one in the centre. Heavily distorted orange galaxies appear all around the cluster, the largest concentrated in a large arc around the cluster's centre; these are images of very distant galaxies, created by gravitational lensing. A few galaxies are large and bluish-white in colour; bright, nearby stars are the same colour. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Furtak, S. Fujimoto

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 28/09/2026

Juice used the gravity of our home planet to alter its route to Jupiter using very little fuel. The flyby deflected Juice by an angle of 20° compared to its pre-flyby path and increased its velocity by 3.5 km/s. 🔭 🧪

Infographic showing Juice's flight past Earth with a dotted orange line. Key timings are indicated, including the start of the flyby navigation campaign (17 August), the closest approach to Earth (28 September) and the farewell images of Earth (2 October). Some of the line is bold yellow, a key indicates that this means that Juice's science instruments are switched on.

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 28/09/2026

A successful Earth flyby improves Juice’s course to Jupiter Earlier today, Juice flew just 8640 km above the Indian Ocean and snapped these images with its onboard monitoring cameras. 1️⃣Africa, by Juice monitoring camera 2️⃣Madagascar, by Juice NavCam 3️⃣Moon, by Juice NavCam 🔭 🧪 #planetsci

Mostly black space, most of Earth visible at the top right of the image. Part of a spacecraft visible on the left.

Part of the island of Madagascar in black and white.

A crescent Moon, with about a quarter of the Moon showing. Many craters are visible.

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 27/09/2026

Want to join us as BepiColombo arrives at Mercury? You can! Submit a #WelcomeToMercury message for Bepi and Mio and stand a chance to win a trip to ESA in Darmstadt, Germany, in December of this year. Check the competition out here 👉 esa.int/WelcomeToMercury 🔭

Illustration showing BepiColombo cartoon characters Bepi and Mio waving. To the left of the characters, a text reads ‘Welcome BepiColombo to Mercury!’. On the lower part of the image, we see part of planet Mercury on the left, and the hashtag WelcomeToMercury on the right.

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 25/09/2026

Earth and Venus may have started out as near twins, but today one is full of life and the other is a scorching greenhouse world 🌋 ESA's Envision launches in 2031 to find out why they turned out so differently. Discover more here 👉 esa.int/envision 🔭

An image of Earth and Venus on a black background, with the Envision spacecraft in the foreground. The left half of Venus shows what it looks like from space, enshrouded in a thick cloud cover (image by NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft), while the right half shows a map of the surface terrain as reconstructed from radar data recorded by NASA's Magellan mission.

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 24/09/2026

🚨Competition alert 🚨 Craft a #WelcomeToMercury message for Bepi and Mio and stand a chance to win a trip to Germany and witness the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission arrive at Mercury! The message could be a drawing, song, poem or any other art form. Details 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭 🧪

Illustration showing cartoon characters Bepi and Mio waving in the centre. Bepi represents ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter and Mio is JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter. Together they are part of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission. On the right side of the image, we see the ESA logoon the top and part of planet Mercury on the bottom. On the left side of the characters and underneath them, a text reads ‘Welcome BepiColombo to Mercury! Get ready to celebrate BepiColombo’s arrival at Mercury. Craft a welcoming message as a drawing, song, poem or any other art form. The prize is a trip to ESA’s BepiColombo event in Germany. Enter at esa.int/WelcomeToMercury by 25 October 2026. Hashtag WelcomeToMercury’.

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Juice’s two onboard monitoring cameras will be snapping photos throughout the flyby so stay tuned! Their last images of this event will be taken on 29 September. 🔭 🧪 #planetsci

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This flyby will deflect the trajectory of the Juice spacecraft by about 20 degrees and increase its velocity by about 3.5 km/s. This interaction will set Juice up for a final Earth flyby in January 2029, putting it onto the optimum path to intercept Jupiter in July 2031. 🔭 🧪 #planetsci

Infographic about Juice's Earth flyby on 28 September 2026. The graphic shows Juice's trajectory during the flyby and key dates: 17 August start of flyby navigation campaign, 23 September science instruments begin observations, 27 September 21:29 CEST – 28 September 06:09 CEST Juice is in Earth's shadow, 28 September 13:45 CEST closest approach at 8640 km, 2 October farewell images of Earth, 3 October all science instruments are switched off, 4 October final trajectory correction.

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Between 15 and 30 minutes before closest approach, Juice will pass over Australia, travelling from northeast to northwest. With the right telescope or binocular equipment, you may be able to track it. Trajectory data can be found here 👉 www.cosmos.esa.int/web/spice/sp... 🔭 🧪 #planetsci

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Juice’s two onboard monitoring cameras will be snapping photos throughout the flyby so stay tuned! Their last images of this event will be taken on 29 September. 🔭 🧪 #planetsci

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 18/09/2026

Juice is returning to Earth, again 🛰️ On 28 September the spacecraft will fly by Earth, coming within 8640 km of our planet. The closest approach will be over the Indian Ocean at 13:45 CEST (11:45 UTC) 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭 🧪 #planetsci

Illustration showing Earth seen from space, the Juice spacecraft and its trajectory during the flyby.

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Spiralling out of sync 🫨 This new Hubble image features a galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, NGC 4698, which has been thrown out of sync at some time in its history. Read more 👉 Ehttps://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/09/A_galaxy_spinning_out_of_sync 🔭

A spiral galaxy viewed at an angle, with a bright central bulge and winding spiral arms. The arms form a ring around the galaxy, without appearing to reach its centre. Prominent red-brown dust lanes weave through the arms, which are also dotted with bright blue and reddish regions of star formation. The galaxy is set against a dark background scattered with stars and faint distant galaxies. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker, the MAUVE-HST Team

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 17/09/2026

Are you an early-career scientist? Don't miss the opportunity to join us for the postdoctoral #ESAResearchFellowship programme. Applications are open until 21 September 👉 www.cosmos.esa.int/web/space-scienc… 🔭 🧪 ☄️

Internal research fellow performing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 16/09/2026

Summer in Europe may be coming to an end, but the Red Planet is still us giving raspberry ripple ice cream vibes in this latest image from #MarsExpress 🍦 Explore the image and find about more about this cliff of ice near Mars's south pole 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭🧪 #planetsci

A purple-pink-coloured patch of Mars, which is lighter on the left and darker on the right. A dark line runs from the top centre towards the bottom right, dividing the light and dark areas. At the centre of the image is a sharp light-coloured crater. Less sharp craters are scattered over the rest of the image. At the bottom left is a bright white-blue triangular patch, it looks icy. A small scale bar at the bottom right indicates that north is to the right, and that a line approximately one tenth of the image width is 50 km long.

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 16/09/2026

📣 We're looking for the next fellows in Space Science! The 2026 deadline for the #ESAResearchFellowship in Space Science Programme is fast approaching. Apply until 21 September here 👉 jobs.esa.int/job/Villanue... Details 👉 www.cosmos.esa.int/web/space-sc... 🔭 🧪 ☄️

Person sitting in front of a computer, smiling.

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 15/09/2026

Webb reveals one of its largest images to date! 😲 This starry view shows the nearby star-forming region IC 348. Here, astronomers searched for brown dwarfs, objects which are less massive than the smallest stars. Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭🧪

A star-forming region. It is blanketed in thick clouds of gas and dust, millions of kilometres across, that form swirling patterns. Bright stars are scattered throughout the clouds, with the densest cluster situated in the centre of the scene. Each is crowned with six long points created by the optics of the telescope’s mirrors. In the upper right, a couple of hidden stars blast out long, glowing jets of material. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, K. Luhman, C. Alves De Oliveira, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 11/09/2026

🎙️ Final stop on Expedition Sound We ventured into deep space to talk gravity, galaxies, and the cosmic web with Valeria Pettorino, Euclid’s Project Scientist and Lorenzo Speri, research fellow in the LISA mission 🌌✨ Tune in to ep. 4️⃣ of ‘Expedition Sound’ 👉 shorturl.at/UGpUc 🔭🧪

Photo with Lorenzo:
‘Selfie during interview recording, Expedition Sound podcast host Zsofi Szalavari with research fellow Lorenzo Speri’

Photo with Valeria:
‘Selfie during interview recording, Expedition Sound podcast host Zsofi Szalavari with Euclid Project Scientist Valeria Pettorino’

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 09/09/2026

A superbubble scene 🫧 The vast central void in this Hubble image was created by the glittering stars at its centre. Through their powerful stellar winds and explosive supernovae, these stars have expelled much of the gas from which they were born. Read more 👉 esahubble.org/images/potm2... 🔭 🧪

A dense field of stars fills the image, surrounded by wispy clouds of gas and dust. Pale blue and grey nebulosity forms an intricate web across the scene, with darker clouds of dust concentrated towards the lower right. Numerous bright stars appear in shades of blue, white and orange.

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 08/09/2026

Observations from Hubble have revealed a huge decagon encircling Saturn’s south pole! This giant, evolving 10-sided atmospheric wave is remarkably similar to Saturn’s famous hexagon at its northern pole, but is also distinctly different. Read more 👉 esahubble.org/news/heic2612/ 🔭 🧪

Side-by-side comparison of two views of the gas giant Saturn, labeled “August 29, 2025” at the top left corner. At left is a straight-on view of Saturn, a globe with pale yellow horizontal bands at the equator and orange and pink at the mid-latitudes. Some bands towards the north and south pole have a light blue hue. There are prominent horizontal rings circling at the equator. At right, labeled “Saturn’s south pole,” the south-polar view of Saturn shows concentric bands in its atmosphere, mostly tan and orange, surrounding a dark central region that has a 10-sided outline. A small, dashed circle at the very center of the pole with an “X” inside denotes missing data.

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 07/09/2026

Media call: join a press briefing on BepiColombo held by the Europlanet Science Congress 2026 organisers on 9 September, at 12:45 CEST. ESA & JAXA representatives will give an update on the status of the spacecraft and look ahead at the next steps. Register here 👉 us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi... 🔭

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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 07/09/2026

What's next for BepiColombo? 🛰️ 🌑 ↩️ On 21 November, the two orbiters, ESA's Bepi and JAXA's Mio will enter orbit around Mercury together 🛰️ 🌑 🛰️ In December, the orbiters will separate from each other 🔎 Science operations will begin in April 2027 Stay tuned! 🔭 🧪 #planetsci 2/2

An infographic showing the different stages of BepiColombo's arrival at Mercury. Each step shows the configuration of the different spacecraft as they separate from one another, depicted as simplified grey drawings on a dark blue background. A vertical line connects the image for each step to the corresponding date and description at the bottom. An image of Mercury lies on the right edge of the infographic.

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Mission accomplished, MTM! 🫡 Thanks for getting us this far!

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With this separation, ESA's Bepi and JAXA's Mio have completed the first step of their Mercury arrival phase. Go, Bepi! 🙌 Go, Mio! 🙌 🔭 🧪 #planetsci 3/3

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Together, the stacked spacecraft travelled nine billion km, did 22 loops around the Sun and performed nine planetary flybys. MTM's propulsion system is dependent on Bepi's computer control, so after today, MTM will float around the Sun indefinitely. 🔭 🧪 #planetsci 2/3

BepiColombo appears to ‘hug’ Mercury in this image taken by the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission on 19 June 2023 as the spacecraft sped by for its third of three gravity assist manoeuvres at the planet. The back of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter’s high-gain antenna and part of the spacecraft’s body is visible in front of Mercury.

Collage of images captured by BepiColombo’s monitoring camera during the Venus flyby on 15 October 2020. Two rows of four images each show parts of the BepiColombo spacecraft with planet Venus in the background.

A view of Earth captured by one of the MCAM selfie cameras on board BepiColombo, as the spacecraft zoomed past the planet during its first and only Earth flyby on 10 April 2020.

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A happy goodbye is still a goodbye 🥹 Mission accomplished, MTM! 🫡 Thank you for the ride! Thanks to its solar-powered electric thrusters, MTM carried ESA's Bepi and JAXA's Mio to Mercury on the power equivalent of 250 ants! 🐜🐜🐜 🔭 🧪 #planetsci 1/3

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A last selfie, 3.3 million km from Mercury 📸 #BepiColombo's Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) has taken one last set of snapshots before it separates today from the science orbiters, ESA's Bepi and JAXA's Mio, which will continue their journey to Mercury. Farewell, robot friend 👋 🥹 🔭 🧪 #planetsci 1/2

View from the monitoring camera M-CAM 1 on ESA’s Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), which shows part of the extended solar array of the MTM on the right and a part of MTM itself on the left.

View from the monitoring camera M-CAM 2 on ESA’s Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), which captures parts of the medium-gain antenna and magnetometer boom on ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO).

View from the monitoring camera M-CAM 3 on ESA’s Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), which captures part of the high-gain antenna on ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and some of MPO's body.

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