NASA captured the surface of Venus with visible light for the first time.

According to NASA, the Parker Solar Probe took the first image of the surface of Venus in orbit under visible light. Although other types of instruments have been used to image the earth's surface, visible light cannot be obtained from orbit because of the thick clouds hovering over the earth. The photos of Venus' surface obtained in the visible spectrum come from several Soviet probes in11970s and11990s. NASA released some data about these images before, but now it is confirmed that the Parker Solar Detector "penetrated" the clouds of Venus and photographed the surface below.

The first high-quality images of Venus sent back by Mariner 10 show a planet hidden under a dense sulfuric acid cloud. There is about 96.5% carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Venus. The planet was baked at 92 times the sea level pressure we experienced on earth, and its surface temperature was enough to melt lead at a temperature of about 464 degrees Celsius. Surface conditions like this make photography difficult.

As early as 2020 and 20021year, Parker Solar Probe made a slingshot maneuver to adjust its course around Venus. When it was in orbit, it took some pictures of planets with WISPR camera (a wide-area imager for solar detectors). At that time, NASA did not really see the surface of the planet. WIPR usually photographs the sun's atmosphere. When NASA aimed it at Venus, they thought the camera might be able to measure the speed of the golden nebula. Instead, they can draw the night surface of the earth.

WISPR is helpful for surface imaging. "The surface of Venus, even at night, is about 860 degrees," said lead study author Brian Wood. "It's so hot that the rocky surface of Venus obviously shines like a piece of iron pulled out of a furnace."

Due to the reflected sunlight, this glow is invisible in the daytime. However, at night, the surface of the earth shines obviously under the clouds. Wood reported that the wavelength received by Parker Solar Detector ranged from 470 nm to 800 nm. The visible spectrum is about 380 nm to 750 nm, so the human eye can see most of the light of Venus.

Above, visible light is on the left, and radar features measured by early Magellan detectors are on the right. Measuring these wavelengths will help to confirm what the surface is made of, because different materials radiate different heat.

Parker Solar Probe is now collecting data about our sun, but these early flybys gave us the first glimpse of the surface of Venus from orbit. Venus is very interested in astronomers because it is very similar to the earth, but its geological history is quite different. The current theory is that the high temperature of Venus produced an uncontrolled greenhouse effect billions of years ago. This deprives the earth of water and keeps it in its present state. Venus may be too hot for plate tectonics, while Mars is small and cold, and the earth is just in the "just right" area between them.