Photo: ESA/NASA/NRL/SoloHI/Phillip Hess
In another Universe and at another time, Earth’s sister planet, Venus, might have been a great rock to live on. Similar in size, mass and composition to our home, the Morning and Evening Star had the misfortune of being placed in this Universe a tad too close to the Sun, and gifted with conditions that are incompatible with life as we know it.
To date, there have been several missions to Venus (and more are coming), but none have been capable of learning more about one of the brightest planets in the sky. That’s why the place is still a mystery for us humans, and why we cherish everything new coming from over there by whatever means.
Recently, our dose of Venus was provided by either the American Parker Solar Probe or the European Solar Orbiter. The latter is the one responsible for the images we’re here to discuss today, taken from very close to the planet and showing it in ways few of us have seen before.
What you’re looking at in the gallery of this piece are images the Orbiter took on as it approached the planet this month, reaching on August 9 a distance of just 4,967 miles (7,995 km) from the surface.
And no, the images do not show Venus as a spec of darkness eclipsing the Sun, but the entire composition, dark and bright alike, shows only Venus. In fact, we’re looking at the same time at the night side of the planet, barely distinguishable from the darkness of space, and the day side, bombarded by the brilliant light of the Sun (the star is off-camera, to the upper right side).
And to give us a proper sense of how insignificant we humans are, a closer look at the images also reveals two bright stars to the right of Venus. The rightmost one is according to scientists the binary Omicron Tauri (290 light-years from Earth) and Xi Tauri, located 210 light-years from Earth.
Recently, our dose of Venus was provided by either the American Parker Solar Probe or the European Solar Orbiter. The latter is the one responsible for the images we’re here to discuss today, taken from very close to the planet and showing it in ways few of us have seen before.
What you’re looking at in the gallery of this piece are images the Orbiter took on as it approached the planet this month, reaching on August 9 a distance of just 4,967 miles (7,995 km) from the surface.
And no, the images do not show Venus as a spec of darkness eclipsing the Sun, but the entire composition, dark and bright alike, shows only Venus. In fact, we’re looking at the same time at the night side of the planet, barely distinguishable from the darkness of space, and the day side, bombarded by the brilliant light of the Sun (the star is off-camera, to the upper right side).
And to give us a proper sense of how insignificant we humans are, a closer look at the images also reveals two bright stars to the right of Venus. The rightmost one is according to scientists the binary Omicron Tauri (290 light-years from Earth) and Xi Tauri, located 210 light-years from Earth.
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