NASA’s Parker Solar Probe captured stunning views of Venus during its close flyby of the planet in July 2020.
Feb 24, 2021
The dark spot appearing on the lower portion of Venus is an artifact from the WISPR instrument. Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Laboratory/Guillermo Stenborg and Brendan Gallagher
When flying past Venus in July 2020, Parker Solar Probe’s WISPR instrument, short for Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow — light emitted by oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere that recombine into molecules in the nightside. The prominent dark feature in the center of the image is Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on the Venusian surface. Bright streaks in WISPR, such as the ones seen here, are typically caused by a combination of charged particles — called cosmic rays — sunlight reflected by grains of space dust, and particles of material expelled from the spacecraft’s structures after impact with those dust grains. The number of streaks varies along the orbit or when the spacecraft is traveling at different speeds, and scientists are still in discussion about the specific origins of the streaks here. The dark spot appea
Though Parker Solar Probe’s focus is the Sun, Venus plays a critical role in the mission: The spacecraft whips by Venus a total of seven times over the course of its seven-year mission, using the planet’s gravity to bend the spacecraft’s orbit. These Venus gravity assists allow Parker Solar Probe to fly closer and closer to the Sun on its mission to study the dynamics of the solar wind close to its source.
But — along with the orbital dynamics — these passes can also yield some unique and even unexpected views of the inner solar system. During the mission’s third Venus gravity assist on July 11, 2020, the onboard Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, or WISPR, captured a striking image of the planet’s nightside from 7,693 miles away.
WISPR is designed to take images of the solar corona and inner heliosphere in visible light, as well as images of the solar wind and its structures as they approach and fly by the spacecraft. At Venus, the camera detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow — light emitted by oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere that recombine into molecules in the nightside. The prominent dark feature in the center of the image is Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on the Venusian surface. The feature appears dark because of its lower temperature, about 85 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) cooler than its surroundings.
That aspect of the image took the team by surprise, said Angelos Vourlidas, the WISPR project scientist from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, who coordinated a WISPR imaging campaign with Japan’s Venus-orbiting Akatsuki mission. “WISPR is tailored and tested for visible light observations. We expected to see clouds, but the camera peered right through to the surface.”
A black and white image showing one hemisphere of planet Venus against a backdrop of stars, with bright streaks throughout. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe had an up-close view of Venus when it flew by the planet in July 2020. Some of the features seen by scientists are labeled in this annotated image. The dark spot appearing on the lower portion of Venus is an artifact from the WISPR instrument. (Click to enlarge.) Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Laboratory/Guillermo Stenborg and Brendan Gallagher “WISPR effectively captured the thermal emission of the Venusian surface,” said Brian Wood, an astrophysicist and WISPR team member from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. “It’s very similar to images acquired by the Akatsuki spacecraft at near-infrared wavelengths.”
This surprising observation sent the WISPR team back to the lab to measure the instrument’s sensitivity to infrared light. If WISPR can indeed pick up near-infrared wavelengths of light, the unforeseen capability would provide new opportunities to study dust around the Sun and in the inner solar system. If it can’t pick up extra infrared wavelengths, then these images — showing signatures of features on Venus’ surface — may have revealed a previously unknown “window” through the Venusian atmosphere.
For more insight into the July 2020 images, the WISPR team planned a set of similar observations of the Venusian nightside during Parker Solar Probe’s latest Venus flyby on Feb. 20, 2021. Mission team scientists expect to receive and process that data for analysis by the end of April.
“We are really looking forward to these new images,” said Javier Peralta, a planetary scientist from the Akatsuki team, who first suggested a Parker Solar Probe campaign with Akatsuki, which has been in orbiting Venus since 2015. “If WISPR can sense the thermal emission from the surface of Venus and nightglow — most likely from oxygen — at the limb of the planet, it can make valuable contributions to studies of the Venusian surface.”
Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living with a Star program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Johns Hopkins APL designed, built and operates the spacecraft.
By Michael Buckley Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
NASA Media Contact: Karen Fox NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
A sea of dark dunes, sculpted by the wind into long lines, surrounds Mars' northern polar cap and covers an area as big as Texas. In this false-color image, areas with cooler temperatures are recorded in bluer tints, while warmer features are depicted in yellows and oranges. Thus, the dark, sun-warmed dunes glow with a golden color. This image covers an area 19 miles (30 kilometers) wide.
This scene combines images taken during the period from December 2002 to November 2004 by the Thermal Emission Imaging System instrument on the Mars Odyssey orbiter. It is part of a special set of images marking the 20th anniversary of Odyssey, the longest-working Mars spacecraft in history. The pictured location on Mars is 80.3 degrees north latitude, 172.1 degrees east longitude.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Last Updated: Apr 8, 2021 Editor: Yvette Smith Tags: Image of the Day, Mars Odyssey
NASA's Perseverance rover takes a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopterNASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity has been given a new mission after acing its historic test flights. The drone will soon embark on some one-way flights to demonstrate its ability to act as a scout for the Perseverance rover.
Ingenuity made history on April 19 with the first powered flight on another planet. In the weeks since, the little helicopter has taken to the Martian skies three more times, adding horizontal flight to its repertoire and increasing its distance, flight time and air speed.
The original plan was to fly Ingenuity several times during its 30-day mission, within an airspace designated the Wright Brothers Field, named of course for the pioneers of powered flight here on Earth. But having exceeded expectations, NASA has now extended the mission and plans to have the drone leave the Field.
The fourth flight, which took place Friday April 30, saw Ingenuity travel about 133 m (436 ft) to the south to scout a new potential landing zone, before returning to Wright Brothers Field. The fifth flight, still upcoming, would see the helicopter heading off on a one-way journey to land at this new site.
If the helicopter remains in good working condition after that, the next phase of its mission can begin. Ingenuity would make short hops ahead of Perseverance to help plot a course for the rover, identifying potential hazards and science targets. At the same time, it can also capture stereoscopic images to create digital elevation maps.
“The Ingenuity technology demonstration has been a resounding success,” says Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “Since Ingenuity remains in excellent health, we plan to use it to benefit future aerial platforms while prioritizing and moving forward with the Perseverance rover team’s near-term science goals.”
During this mission the frequency of the flights will drop from their current rate of every few days to once every two or three weeks. This phase may begin in around two weeks, and should wrap up by the end of August. After that, the science team will prepare for a pause in mid-October, when communications will be interrupted due to Mars and Earth will be on opposite sides of the Sun.
Beyond that, the future of Ingenuity remains unknown, but even if that turns out to be the end of the story this impressive feat of engineering will leave a legacy that could inform Mars exploration for decades to come.
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