On September 25, 2018, the Parker WISPR solar probe instrument received a view of the Earth — a bright sphere in the center of the right panel. The long mark at the bottom of the panel represents the reflection of the lens.
On September 25, 2018, the solar probe Parker looked at the Earth when it accelerated to the first gravitational passage. Earth is a bright round object on the right side of the image. The photo was taken with a WISPR device (wide-angle thermal imager for a solar probe) - the only image tool on board the device.
For scientific purposes, WISPR is able to see structures within the solar atmosphere (corona). Two image panels were obtained by two instrument telescopes pointing in slightly different directions and with different fields of view. The scaling of the Earth shows a slight bulge on the right side - the moon peeking out from behind the planet. At the time of receiving the picture, Parker was located at a distance of 27 million miles from Earth.
Close-up of the Earth from WISPR, received on September 25, 2018. The picture shows that the bulge on the right - the moon
The hemispherical shape in the middle of the right frame is the lens flash, which is customary when visualizing bright sources caused by reflections inside the lens system. Here the reason was the bright Earth. In the future, this is expected at close passes past Venus and Mercury.
