Parker, the little probe that can :)

Parker, the little probe that can, has done it again, this time, imaging Venus in visible light.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has taken its first visible light images of the surface of Venus from space.

Smothered in thick clouds, Venus’ surface is usually shrouded from sight. But in two recent flybys of the planet, Parker used its Wide-Field Imager, or WISPR, to image the entire nightside in wavelengths of the visible spectrum – the type of light that the human eye can see – and extending into the near-infrared.

In the time since Parker Solar Probe captured its first visible light images of Venus’ surface from orbit in July 2020, a subsequent flyby has allowed the spacecraft to gather more images, creating a video of Venus’ entire nightside. A full analysis of the images and video, published on Feb. 9, 2022, in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, is adding to scientists’ understanding of the planet likened as Earth’s twin.

The images, combined into a video, reveal a faint glow from the surface that shows distinctive features like continental regions, plains, and plateaus. A luminescent halo of oxygen in the atmosphere can also be seen surrounding the planet.

Parker's primary mission ... touching the sun. :)

For the first time in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there. 

The new milestone marks one major step for Parker Solar Probe and one giant leap for solar science. Just as landing on the Moon allowed scientists to understand how it was formed, touching the very stuff the Sun is made of will help scientists uncover critical information about our closest star and its influence on the solar system. 

Parker, the little probe that can. :)