The first images of Venus’ surface were captured by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, revealing how the planet’s rocky interior glows crimson. Hidden under a thick, continuous layer of cloud, the surface of Venus has never been imaged using optical equipment before, and scientists now hope to learn about Venus’ geology and evolution by analyzing images from the probe.
As the name suggests, the Parker Solar Probe was sent into space on a mission to study the Sun. Using Venus’ gravitational field, it makes a series of passes by Venus to increase its speed, while sharing images of Venus with Earth.
The probe’s imaging software is primarily aimed at detecting features of the Sun’s atmosphere, but scientists at NASA thought it could also be used to observe clouds of Venus as it passes by. During the probe’s fourth pass, on January 20, 2021, the probe’s orbit aligned so much that it was able to image the entire night side of Venus and send it back to Earth.
Surprisingly, researchers have discovered that they can see surface features visible through the planet’s famous dense clouds. They did not actually expect to make such an observation, as most wavelengths of visible light cannot penetrate the planet’s thick atmosphere. But he reports that on the night side of the planet, some of the longest visible wavelengths are actually able to pass through it. “The surface of Venus is about 860 degrees Celsius, even on the night side. It’s so hot that the rocky surface of Venus visibly glows,” the researchers say.
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