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NASA has captured the first visible light images of the surface of Venus from space.

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The planet’s surface is normally shrouded from sight by a thick layer of clouds.

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But in 2020 and 2021, Parker Solar Probe pointed its cameras at the nightside of Venus as the spacecraft flew by.

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The cameras are known as the Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe, or WISPR.

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WISPR was designed to see faint features in the solar wind flowing out from the Sun.

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Scientists thought they could use the cameras to see Venus’ clouds during flybys of the planet.

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Instead, they saw light and dark surface features through the clouds.

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This is the first time visible light from the Venusian surface has been captured from space.

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It's thrilling to be able to see something that's never been seen before.

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This emission that we're seeing is thermal emission.

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Even on the nightside, the surface of Venus is so hot

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that it's glowing faintly at very red wavelengths.

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In the images, light areas are hotter and dark areas are cooler.

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These WISPR images are really exciting because they provide a new window into the lower atmosphere

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and surface region of Venus where these extreme conditions exist.

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Scientists compared the WISPR images to topographical maps created with radar to see how temperatures change with altitude.

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This is Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on Venus.

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Higher elevations tend to be cooler, and lowland regions hotter.

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The images could also help scientists see other heat variations.

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Another really interesting thing we can look for is potentially mineralogical differences.

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Different rocks, different minerals emit different levels of heat.

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Understanding the composition of the surface could teach about the planet’s evolution.

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Today, Venus is inhospitable to life with extreme temperatures, toxic clouds, and a crushing atmosphere.

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But the planet may have had a different past.

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We have chemical fingerprints in Venus’ atmosphere and on its surface

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suggesting that Venus may have been habitable in the past.

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The only other visible light images of the surface of Venus were taken by the Soviet Union’s Venera program when spacecraft landed on the planet.

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Since then, we have studied Venus with infrared and radar instruments that can peer through the dense atmosphere.

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The WISPR images extend our observations to red visible light at the edge of what the human eye can see.

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Parker Solar Probe will have a final chance to image Venus in 2024

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and scientists hope the WISPR images will collectively have a lasting impact on Venus research.

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This is something that's truly new, and I believe will yield exciting, exciting science in the long term.

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