:strip_icc()/s02.video.glbimg.com/x720/10297933.jpg "NASA Releases First Images of Venus’ Surface in Visible Light; watch VIDEO | Science")
A Nasa captured the first images of the surface of Venus in visible light from space. Normally, the planet is covered by a thick layer of clouds.
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The unpublished images made it possible to assemble a model of the Venusian surface.
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For the first time, it was possible to see distinct light and dark images, and scientists compared these images with topographical maps, created with radar, to see how temperatures change with altitude.
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Considering that light areas are warmer and darker areas cooler, and that higher elevations tend to be cooler, and lower lands warmer, they created a model that allowed them to assess the relief of Venus.
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In the result, it was possible to observe, for example, the location of Aphrodite Terra, the largest plateau region on Venus, among other heat variations.
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According to scientists, understanding the composition of the surface could teach about the evolution of the planet, which is currently uninhabitable, with extreme temperatures, toxic clouds and an overwhelming atmosphere, but which may have had a different past.
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The only other clear images of the surface of Venus were taken by the Soviet Union’s Venera program when a rover landed on the planet.
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Since then, Venus has been studied only with infrared and radar instruments that can peer through its dense atmosphere.
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The new images were obtained thanks to the Parker Solar Probe, which pointed its cameras towards the night side of Venus as it passed it in 2020 and 2021.
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These cameras are known as the Solar Probe Wide Field Imaging Generators, or WISPR, and are designed to see faint traces in the solar wind flowing from the Sun.
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Initially, scientists thought they could use them just to see the clouds of Venus during the probe’s passages across the planet. Instead, they saw the traces of light and dark surfaces through the clouds.
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The Parker Solar Probe will once again pass Venus in 2024, when it should get more images of the planet.
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