Solar Orbiter offers a sparkling view of Venus, Earth and Mars

Here on Earth, we’re used to looking and spotting other planets in our solar system, but it’s telling when our mechanical emissaries stare at us and see us among the stars.

Solar Orbiter launched in early 2020 on a solar study mission, but he toured in his spare time. The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft captured a beautiful scene late last year when they saw Venus, Earth and Mars against a backdrop of stars.

The Venus, Earth and Mars trifecta arrived in November when the orbiter’s Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI) spotted the planets as the spacecraft was heading for a flyby of Venus.

ESA has just released the scene as a short video. Venus is the brightest planet on the left of the image. Earth is in the middle and Mars is lower and lower in the lower right corner.

“The stars are visible in the background, appearing to move in the Solar Orbiter recording as the spacecraft moves around the sun,” ESA said in a statement Tuesday.

Solar Orbiter’s portrayal of Earth and her friends fits perfectly into a story of views from elsewhere in the solar system. For comparison, you can see what the earth looks like from mars and what is it looked like NASA’s Voyager 1 in 1990. This allows us to put our place in the universe into perspective.

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