Home : News & Media : Images

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory photographs posted on this website are considered public domain and have been cleared for release. They are available for use, subject to specific guidelines. If you would like to republish please give the photographer appropriate credit or credit the appropriate designated source.
 
Further, any commercial or non-commercial use of these photographs, or any other DoD image, must be made in compliance with guidance found at https://www.dimoc.mil/resources/limitations, which pertains to intellectual property restrictions (e.g., copyright and trademark, including the use of official emblems, insignia, names and slogans), warnings regarding use of images of identifiable personnel, appearance of endorsement, and related matters.

For additional details, please contact the NRL Corporate Communications Office at (202) 480-3746 or nrlpao@us.navy.mil.

Keyword: Category: Tag: Sort By:
Not loaded
200711-N-NO204-002.JPG Photo By: Photo by NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Laboratory/Guillermo Stenborg and Brendan Gallagher

WASHINGTON - When flying past Venus in July 2020, Parker Solar Probe’s WISPR instrument, short for Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow — light emitted by oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere that recombine into molecules in the night side. The prominent dark feature in the center of the image is Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on the Venusian surface. Bright streaks in WISPR, such as the ones seen here, are typically caused by a combination of charged particles — called cosmic rays — sunlight reflected by grains of space dust, and particles of material expelled from the spacecraft’s structures after impact with those dust grains. The number of streaks varies along the orbit or when the spacecraft is traveling at different speeds, and scientists are still in discussion about the specific origins of the streaks here. The dark spot appearing on the lower portion of Venus is an artifact from the WISPR instrument.


DOWNLOAD PHOTO (0.5 MB)


This photograph is considered public domain and has been cleared for release. If you would like to republish please give the photographer appropriate credit.



Back to Gallery