ESA and NASA’s Solar Orbiter captured images of Venus, Earth and Mars used in this GIF on November 18, 2020.
ESA / NASA / NRL / Solar Orbiter / SolOHI
Here on Earth, we are used to looking for and discovering other planets in our solar system, but it is interesting when our mechanical envoys look back and see us among the stars.
The Solar Orbiter was launched in early 2020 on a mission to study the sun, But she did some sightseeing in her spare time. The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft captured a stunning sight late last year when they saw Venus, Earth and Mars against a background of stars.
The Venus, Earth and Mars trilogy appeared in November when the SoloHI Camera spotted the planets while the spacecraft was heading to Venus.
ESA has just released the scene as a short video. Venus is the brightest planet to the left of the image. Earth is in the middle, Mars is weaker and down in the lower right corner.
«The stars are visible in the background, and appear to be moving in the Solar Orbiter recording as the spacecraft moves around the sun,» The European Space Agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
The image of the Earth’s orbiting solar module and Friends matches well with the history of scenes from elsewhere in the solar system. For comparison, you can see What does Earth look like from Mars and what It is similar to Voyager 1 from NASA Back in 1990. It helps put our place in the universe into perspective.
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