Florida: While on a journey to study the sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has captured an incredible new view of Venus.
The mission, which launched in 2018, is intended to study the sun and reveal some of its mysteries. Over the course of seven years, the probe will travel through the sun’s atmosphere and come closer to the surface of our star than any spacecraft before it.
Venus is instrumental to the probe’s success. The spacecraft uses the gravity of Venus as it swings around the planet, called a gravity assist, to help bend the probe’s orbit and bring it closer and closer to the sun.
During one of these Venusian flybys on July 11, 2020, the probe snapped an amazing image that shows an unexpected side of our planetary neighbour. This was the third Venus gravity assist for the Parker Solar Probe.
WISPR saw a bright rim around the edge of the planet, which could be nightglow — “light emitted by oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere that recombine into molecules in the nightside,” per NASA.
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Parker Solar Probe flies by Venus to perform gravity assist maneuvers — designed to draw its orbit closer to the Sun — a total of seven times throughout its mission. Read more about the features scientists spotted in the image: https://t.co/ProKV6S8Hu pic.twitter.com/0D3svqglgJ
— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) February 24, 2021
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You can also see the Aphrodite Terra, which is the largest highland region on the planet’s surface.
NASA says that this was unexpected. “WISPR is tailored and tested for visible-light observations,” said Angelos Vourlidas, a WISPR project scientist. “We expected to see clouds, but the camera peered right through to the surface.”
