Image captured by Psyche mission which shows Mars in the shape of a crescent.
Source: NASANASA’s Psyche clicked a series of stunning pictures of Mars, including a crescent view, as the spacecraft recently whizzed past the red planet on its way to a distant asteroid.
Psyche completed the maneuver on May 15, passing within 4,609 km of the Martian surface in a gravity-assist flyby – commonly known as a slingshot, in which a spacecraft uses the gravity of a planet or satellite to propel it towards a different destination.
Among the photos it took was one of Mars as a thin crescent, made possible because Psyche approached Mars from a high phase angle, catching the sunlight reflecting off its surface.
Image captured by Psyche mission which shows Mars in the shape of a crescent. Source: NASA
NASA’s Psyche clicked a series of stunning pictures of Mars, including a crescent view, as the spacecraft recently whizzed past the red planet on its way to a distant asteroid.
Psyche completed the maneuver on May 15, passing within 4,609 km of the Martian surface in a gravity-assist flyby – commonly known as a slingshot, in which a spacecraft uses the gravity of a planet or satellite to propel it towards a different destination.
Among the photos it took was one of Mars as a thin crescent, made possible because Psyche approached Mars from a high phase angle, catching the sunlight reflecting off its surface.
