Since areas of higher elevation are cooler than areas of lower altitude, it is possible to see different features on Venus’ surface according to the brightness of the record (Image: NASA, Detection)
Shooting something that’s never been photographed before is what NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission is doing. model? Venus, whose surface was first recorded from space, in visible light. The images not only satisfy the curiosity of those living on Earth, but, according to scientists, also help learn more about the geology of Venus’ surface, what minerals might be there, and how the planet’s evolution took place. .
Venus is notable for its resemblance to Earth and is now uninhabitable due to its extreme temperatures and the presence of misfortunes such as poison clouds, but researchers suspect this is not always the case, and argue that information such as that captured by the mission could help in the quest to understand why Venus became inhospitable and the Earth became an oasis.
The surface of Venus is often cloudy with thick clouds. But on two recent flights across the planet, the Parker spacecraft has used a Wide Field Imager, or WISPR, to view the entire night side in the visible wavelengths of the spectrum, the kind of light the human eye can see.
The images combined in the video clip reveal slight surface glare that appears in the various features and features of the planet, such as the location of continents, plains and highlands. Because the highlands are colder than the lowlands, they appear as dark patches in the center of the lighter plains. Thus, it is possible to see various features on the surface of Venus, such as the continental zone of Aphrodite Terra, the plateau of Tellus Regio, and the plain of Aino Planitia. An oxygen halo has also been identified which can be seen around the planet.
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The Parker Solar Probe mission is primarily aimed at investigating the solar wind, but since 2020, during its third flyby, researchers have taken advantage of the probe’s orbit to take some additional images of Venus. The idea is to use WIPR to visualize the tops of the clouds covering the planet and gather information to measure their speed.
Not only recording clouds, WIPR is also amazed and looks at the surface of the planet. The images were so impressive that scientists turned the camera back on during the spacecraft’s fourth voyage in February 2021. During this flyby, the spacecraft’s orbit was aligned so perfectly that WIPR imaged the entire night side of Venus.
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“The surface of Venus, even on the night side, has a temperature of about 860 degrees Celsius. Brian Wood, lead author of the new study and a physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory, explained in a statement published by NASA.
Despite its brightness, Venus is difficult to record, because the clouds block most of the visible light that comes from its surface. Also, despite the longest visible wavelength passing through these clouds, the light is lost on the daytime side in the glare of the sun. What happened with the mission was that in the dark of night, the WIPR cameras were able to capture the faint glow caused by the heat radiating from the surface.
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