NASA probe returns incredible image of Venus

NASA launched the Parker solar probe in 2018, but the spacecraft just returned an astonishing photo of Venus from its last flyby. According to NASA, Parker has spotted an unprecedented glow that could be a product of oxygen in the inhospitable planet’s atmosphere. The unexpected clarity of surface characteristics also prompted scientists to re-evaluate the sensitivity of Parker’s cameras.

Parker is designed to study the sun, but he also spends a lot of time near Venus. To analyze the sun’s corona without frying, Parker moves at incredible speeds. It is currently the fastest man-made object, moving at nearly 300,000 miles per hour (466,000 km / h) relative to the sun. Using his multi-layered heat shield, Parker can blow through the super hot crown fast enough to take action and come out the other side unharmed. It’s moving faster now than it was at launch thanks to Venus’ regular gravity assists.

It was during one of these close passes in July 2020 that NASA turned the ship’s wide-angle WISPR camera towards the planet – the image you see above is what they recovered. The camera shows a bright glow along the edge of the planet, which may be a “night glow”. It comes from the oxygen atoms emitting a few photons of light as they recombine into molecules on the dark side of the planet. Astronomers have probably spotted the same thing on Mars recently.

Perhaps more interestingly, the image shows the surface characteristics of Venus. As you may know, Venus has a thick, sultry atmosphere of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. Most instruments can’t see the surface at all, but Parker’s photo shows the dark outline of Aphrodite Terra, the largest mountainous region on the planet.

NASA says this could have two notable impacts on future sightings. First, Parker’s WISPR camera may be more sensitive to infrared wavelengths of light than the team thought – they are currently performing lab tests to see how deep in the infrared Parker can see. It is possible that this opens up new methods of studying dust around the sun. It also suggests that there may be a wavelength of infrared light that acts as a “window” through the atmosphere of Venus. The team is also looking into this.

And what about all the streaks in the image? Scientists are still discussing it. The current thought is that it is the result of charged particles bouncing off the dust. The number of streaks varies depending on Parker’s position in its orbit, but it is a parcel streaks. We may have some answers soon. Parker just completed another flyby of Venus on February 20. The team hopes to process and publish this data in April.

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