NASA shares striking image of Venus, image shows nightglow, dark shape of Aphrodite Terra
Parker Solar Probe is part of NASAâs Living with a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. (Image source: NASA)
Updated: Feb 27, 2021, 10:12 PM IST
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has captured a beautiful picture of Venus. Though Parker Solar Probe’s focus is the Sun, Venus plays a critical role in the mission, the Amercan Space Agency said. 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.
NASA Probe View Of Venus Shows Something It Shouldn t Have Seen iflscience.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from iflscience.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
This New Image of Venus Shouldn t Actually Exist
Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Laboratory/Guillermo Stenborg and Brendan Gallagher
A recent flyby of Venus by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has resulted in an unexpectedly good image of the scorched planet, along with the revelation of a previously unknown capacity for one of the spacecraft’s instruments.
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The Parker Solar Probe mission, launched in 2018, has nothing to do with Venus. The NASA spacecraft is merely using the planet’s gravity to get closer to its real target: the Sun. Eventually, after several more flybys of Venus, the Parker probe will come to within 4.3 million miles (6.9 million km) of our host star. The primary goal of the mission, expected to last until 2025, is to better understand the Sun’s solar winds and corona.
| UPDATED: 07:18, Fri, Feb 26, 2021
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Venus may be the second planet from the Sun but its thick atmosphere prevents us from getting a good look at its surface. Thankfully, NASA s Parker Solar Probe had a chance to get up-close and personal with the Planet of Love in July 2020. The NASA probe, which was launched in 2018 to study the Sun s outer layer or corona, will rendezvous with Venus a total of seven times during its seven-year mission.
NASA has revealed a stunning image of Venus taken by its Parker Solar Probe back in July. It was snapped 7,693 miles away from Venus, which is a key part of Parker s seven-year mission.