To great surprise, scientists have not yet captured visible light images of Venus's surface. Though scientists knew clear windows existed in Venus’s thick clouds of sulfuric acid, the researchers didn’t expect light visible to human eyes would break through so intensely, making the images taken. The planet itself is concealed beneath a thick veil of clouds, which makes it extremely hard to get visible images, but telescopes aboard NASA’s Parker Solar Probe managed to capture the first visible-light images of the surface taken from space.

"We’ve never actually seen the surface through the clouds at these wavelengths before," said Lori Glaze, Director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, during a live broadcast on Twitter.

Initially, the Parker Solar Probe was made to gather data on the sun, but in order to do so, it has to make regular trips to Venus. In recent flybys of Venus, Parker used its Wide-Field Imager to image the entire nightside in wavelengths of the visible spectrum, a type of light that is visible to the human eye.

The images reveal a light glow from the surface that shows features like continental regions, plains, and plateaus. This glow is visible because Venus is so hot that the rocky surface of Venus is visibly glowing. In the images NASA captured, parts of Venus are glowing, and others are darker and more in the shade. The pattern of bright and dark that you see is comparable to a temperature map; brighter regions are hotter and darker regions are cooler.

You might be wondering what is next with these images and how they could be scientifically helpful in space research. The Parker Solar Probe's recent successes have inspired other missions to turn on their instruments as they pass Venus. The ESA (European Space Agency), BepiColombo mission, and NASA Solar Orbiter mission have decided to gather data during their flybys in the coming years. Many more spacecraft are headed to Venus, and these will help sample Venus's atmosphere. It will also help scientists gain more information on Venus's surface and its overall history.

The future of research on Venus is looking successful, and these newfound images will be a great element in space discovery.