NASA's Parker Solar Probe captures it's first visible light images of the surface of Venus from space
What's special about Venus's surface being caught by a probe , you might ask?
Well, Venus is densely covered by thick layers of cloud making the surface impenetrable by usual optical devices but …
The Parker Solar Probe is NASA's space probe to observe the sun's outer corona (layer) which is equipped with WISPR or wide-field imager for solar probes allowing it to capture footage of Venus during a flyby.
The Solar Probe as the name suggests orbits the sun but since it encountered Venus it was always worth it to grab the opportunity.
“Parker continues to outperform our expectations, and we are excited that these novel observations taken during our gravity assist maneuver can help advance Venus research in unexpected ways.” Nasa
The Solar Probe captures another unique phenomenon: Venus's surface light. It's often been confusing whether the light from Venus is reflected light but data from nasa suggests that this light is not reflected but emanating red heat from the surface itself. During daytime this plethora of luminous lights isn't visible due to extreme sunlight but at night the light was perfectly visible as there was no sunlight and the temperatures were still rising to a whopping average of 860° fahrenheit. The light emanates from the rocky surface literally melting like molten iron due to the extreme weather conditions.
Venus is particularly interesting as it is not only identical in size and substance but it might have been congruent to earth in all shape and format at one point in history; billions of years ago. The implications of that are - How did earth turn out to be a heaven and Venus to be hell, how in the universe did these seemingly similar bodies face such a divergent fate.
“By studying the surface and atmosphere of Venus, we hope the upcoming missions will help scientists understand the evolution of Venus and what was responsible for making Venus inhospitable today,” NASA Headquarters.
The Solar Probe's Photos has not only already given the incentives for this research but inspired others.
Such as NASA’s DAVINCI and VERITAS missions and ESA’s EnVision mission. These missions will help image and sample Venus’ atmosphere, as well as remap the surface at higher resolution with infrared wavelengths.
All in all, NASA's Parker Solar Probe managed to secure the previously thought impossible images of Venus's surface, captured a beautiful phenomenon about its surface ( luminous surface ) and built incentives for further research and exploration of Earth's twin.