7 stunning images of Mercury by NASA

This image shows Mercury as a small black dot moving across the face of the Sun during its rare transit on May 9, 2016. 

This image shows a gravity map of Mercury created using data from NASA’s MESSENGER mission.

These images show Mercury’s surface in false colour, highlighting chemical variations mapped by MESSENGER’s X-Ray Spectrometer.

This colourful map shows Mercury's northern hemisphere topography, created using data from MESSENGER’s laser altimeter.

The left image shows Mercury’s true colours as seen by the human eye, captured by MESSENGER in 2008. The right image exaggerates colours using 11 filters to reveal subtle surface differences for geological analysis.

This image presents Mercury’s south polar region in an orthographic projection, using an illumination map for colouring.

This image offers a 3D-like view of Carnegie Rupes, a major tectonic fault on Mercury.