New image of Venus captured by Parker Solar Probe

by



[ad_1]

The mission, launched in 2018, aims to study the sun and reveal some of its mysteries. Over a seven-year period, the probe will travel through the sun’s atmosphere and move closer to our star’s surface than any spacecraft before it.

Venus plays a decisive role in the success of the probe. The spacecraft uses the gravity of Venus as it oscillates around the planet, called gravitational assist, to help bend the orbit of the probe and bring it closer and closer to the sun.

During one of these Venus flyovers on July 11, 2020, the spacecraft took an astonishing image that shows an unexpected side of our planetary neighbor. This was Venus’ third gravity assist for the Parker solar probe.

The spacecraft’s WISPR instrument, or Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, actively took images during the flyby and captured the night side, or side opposite the sun, of Venus. The image was taken 7,693 miles from the planet.

NASA's mission to touch the sun unveils the mysteries of our star
A faintly luminous edge can be seen around the planet, which scientists believe to be the “nightlight,” or “light emitted by oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere which recombine into molecules at night,” according to the NASA.

The light streaks visible in the image are the result of space dust and cosmic rays, or charged particles, reflecting sunlight. The streaks look a little different depending on how fast the probe moves.

Parker Solar Probe's WISPR instrument captured this view of Venus in July 2020.

There is also a distinctly dark feature in the center of the image. She is known as Aphrodite Terra, which is the largest region of the highlands of Venus. The reason it looks so dark in the image is that it is actually 85 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the surrounding areas.

Parker Solar Probe returns images of its orbits of the sun

The WISPR instrument was designed for the probe so that it can collect images of the corona of the sun, or the outside atmosphere, in visible light. The imager can also capture the solar wind in action. The solar wind is a constant flow of energized particles escaping from the sun.

When he turned to Venus, WISPR surprised the scientists on the team. Instead of seeing clouds, the surface of Venus has been revealed. Venus has an incredibly thick atmosphere that has proven difficult to see with instruments on other spaceships in the past.

“WISPR effectively captured thermal emission from the Venusian surface,” said Brian Wood, astrophysicist and WISPR team member at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, in a statement.

Akatsuki is a Japanese orbiter who has circled Venus since 2015. It allows scientists to study the weather conditions on Venus, search for lightning in the planet’s thick clouds, and look for signs of active volcanoes.
Venus is not habitable - and it could be Jupiter's fault

What WISPR was able to do in visible light is similar to what Akatsuki captured of Venus in the near infrared, Wood said.

Angelos Vourlidas, the WISPR project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, coordinated an imaging campaign with the Akatsuki mission.

One of two things is happening. Either the WISPR is actually sensitive to infrared light and picks it up as it passes in front of Venus – which could open up possibilities to study the dust around the sun, or the imager looks through the atmosphere of Venus and up to ‘on the surface.

“Either way, exciting scientific opportunities await us,” Vourlidas said in a NASA statement.
Our crazy discovery suggesting life on Venus

Parker Solar Probe just completed its fourth flyby of Venus on February 20, passing 1,482 miles above the surface of the planet, so the team has planned another round of Venus night observations. This data should be received by the end of April, according to NASA.

This flyby put Parker Solar Probe on track for its eighth and ninth passes near the sun, which will take place on April 29 and August 9.

Each passage of the sun causes the probe to break its own previous record, coming closer to more than a million kilometers from the previous passage. These passes will bring the probe 6.5 million kilometers from the surface of the sun.

“We are really looking forward to these new images,” said Javier Peralta, an astrophysicist with the Akatsuki team. Peralta was the first to offer Parker Solar Probe collaboration with the Japanese mission.

“If WISPR can detect thermal emission from the surface of Venus and the nocturnal glow – most likely oxygen – at the edge of the planet, it can make valuable contributions to studies of the Venus surface.”

[ad_2]

Source link