Solar probe surprises NASA with incredible photo of Venus

The Parker solar probe, NASA’s closest eye to the Sun, was hissing Venus last summer for gravitational assistance when it took a striking new image of the planet’s mysterious night, revealing a surprisingly clear view of the Venusian surface.

The spacecraft, launched in 2018, is in the middle of its seven-year journey to study the Sun 6 million kilometers away, the closest to any man-made object. To do this, Parker Solar Probe must use the gravity of Venus to tighten its orbit around the Sun through a series of seven flyovers, moving closer to the star with each pass.

These scenic passes are precious opportunities to take intriguing photos of Venus.

The image taken by Parker Solar Probe’s Wide Field Imager (WISPR) arrived on its third flyby of Venus in July 2020, and scientists were shocked. They expected WISPR to capture the thick, carbon dioxide-rich clouds of Venus that typically obstruct views of the surface. But instead, the camera was able to see through the clouds and reveal the dark form of Aphrodite Terra, a raised area of ​​Venus near its equator that scientists say is about 85 ° F cooler than its environment.

NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Naval Research Laboratory / Guillermo Stenborg and Brendan Gallagher

“WISPR effectively captured thermal emissions from the Venusian surface,” said Brian Wood, astrophysicist and WISPR scientist at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, in a statement from NASA. Wood noted that the image was similar to those taken by a Japanese Venus probe currently analyzing Venus which can capture light at near infrared wavelengths.

The revelation could mean one of two things.

WISPR may have shown an unexpected ability to detect infrared light, which, if true, could open up new potential for scientists to study dust surrounding the Sun. “This surprising observation sent the WISPR team back to the lab to measure the instrument’s sensitivity to infrared light,” wrote Michael Buckley, communications manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, in a NASA blog post.

But if not, the appearance of Aphrodite Terra could mean that WISPR has discovered a hitherto unknown opening in the thick Venusian clouds, a “window” revealing portions of the planet’s surface. .

To find out, mission teams scheduled more night shots of Venus during its last flyby last weekend. They plan to post more images and analysis by the end of April.

The WISPR image revealed other fascinating features of Venus. It has detected a glowing rim in the planet’s upper atmosphere that scientists suspect is a “night glow”. Exclusive to the night side of Venus, the weak luminescence could be caused by a clash of oxygen and nitrogen atoms from the side of the planet exposed to the Sun.

Scientists are still investigating the exact cause of the wispy light trails crossing the frame of the image, the NASA post said. These could be charged particles called cosmic rays, tiny grains of space dust reflecting sunlight, or “particles of material thrown out of spaceship structures after impact with these dust grains”.